Dave McMenaminApr 29, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseLakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09.Follow on XMultiple Authors
THE OPENING TO LeBron James’ historic 23rd season included a personal first for the future Hall of Famer, one that seriously dampened any celebration of his longevity, rather than enhancing it.
During a summer workout, James started to experience sciatica that affected his lower back and right side of his body. The pain sidelined him through Los Angeles Lakers training camp and well into the 2025-26 season.
“Never in my life, since I started playing the game of basketball, have I ever not started the season,” James said Nov. 17, the day before making his season debut in Salt Lake City after missing the first 14 games because of the injury. “It’s been a mind test, but I’m built for it.”
Beyond spoiling a preseason to prepare for the rigors of the season and a training camp to coalesce with Luka Doncic after he was acquired last year in a midseason trade, James’ absence was a tangible example that basketball careers — even his — cannot last forever.
In June, he had picked up the $52.6 million player option rather than negotiate a new deal. In doing so, for the first time since joining the Lakers in 2018, he would be playing on an expiring contract.
What follows are those questions — far more than the original 23 proposed — in a yearlong conversation, across eight NBA cities, with LeBron James.
It was March 20, 2021, he said, and the Lakers were playing the Atlanta Hawks. James had scored seven points a minute into the second quarter when Hawks big man Solomon Hill crashed into James’ right leg trying to corral a loose ball.
The Lakers called timeout as James crawled off the floor in pain. He checked back in after the timeout, hit a corner 3 to bring his points total to 10 — and checked out 39 seconds later. He went on to miss the Lakers’ next 20 games, disrupting what could have been a back-to-back title season for L.A. and possibly a fifth MVP campaign for James.
A: For sure. My foot and my ankle ain’t been the same since. Ever since that injury, I’ve been fighting uphill to get it back to normal. But it’s been a little blah ever since.
A: Yeah, I’m not going to sit here and lie and say I didn’t know where I was. But I’ve hurt my ankle and my foot a couple times and I’ve laced my shoes up and just went back and played. And that was kind of my mindset. It wasn’t like, “Continue the streak.” It was more like, “Well, let me see. Let me see.” Or more like, “F—. Please no. Please no. Please, not right now.” Because, I’m playing too f—ing [well]. I have a chance to have a historical season.
A: I can never say never. Because at one point, we never thought that Oscar Robertson’s triple-double record could ever be broken. And Russ did it.
There are a couple records out there that we know for sure will never be broken. The John Stockton assist record is a crazy number, a wide margin over the rest of us. Almost 3,000 more than Magic, CP, J-Kidd, myself. It’s crazy. We’re not even in the neighborhood. But we’ll see.
Three days later in Toronto, with James’ scuffling through a 4-for-17 shooting performance and the Lakers tied 120-120 with the Raptors in the waning seconds of the fourth quarter, he found Rui Hachimura open in the corner for a game-winning 3 at the buzzer. James finished with eight points, ending the streak that lasted nearly 19 years.
Making up for the previous loss four nights earlier against the Spurs in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, James poured in 26 points in a 116-114 win over the Suns.
He did so while dealing with the antics of Suns forward Dillon Brooks, who has marketed himself as a James irritant ever since the Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies’ first-round playoff series in 2023.
Q: The DeShawn Stevensons, Lance Stephensons, Jae Crowders, Dillon Brookses of the world, do they add to the show? Has having characters challenge you like that made your career more interesting? Have they made you better?
A: Better? I wouldn’t say better, but it’s all part of the journey. It’s all part of the book. You have those antagonizers throughout your career — they come in all shapes and sizes and different forms. And I embrace it.
A: Of course. You’ve seen people cross the line. Sometimes it’s basketball, sometimes it’s not basketball, when it crosses the line. It’s just a little weird. But if you want to compete, I’m here to compete. If you want to talk some s—. We can talk s— as well. Once it becomes other things, then that’s just [messing with] the integrity of the game and that’s when it’s not basketball anymore.
A: Yeah, of course. But that wasn’t the reason that I did that. I think I set a screen, he fell, I’m getting back into the play, and I stepped over him to get back into the play. It wasn’t like I had scored and you know the way how guys step over their defender, like Allen Iverson. It was like, “I’m trying to get back into the play. Every possession matters.”
I think he thought that I was doing that as disrespect, but it’s never been my forte. But of course, you know from watching the playoffs, everybody knows who the leader is in technicals. You watch the game, you know that. It worked in our favor, but it wasn’t like I was going into the game saying, “I know I can antagonize Draymond and get Draymond out of here so he won’t play in Game 5.” …
And he also was there for Game 6 and Game 7, too. He kicked our ass in Game 7. People need to stop saying, “Oh, well, Draymond was out.” He was there for 6 and 7.
James rang in his 41st birthday with a 128-106 loss to the Detroit Pistons, continuing a tough stretch for the Lakers around the holidays in which they lost four out of five.
Q: What are statistical records that actually matter in the NBA? What are some stats that you, when you came in, thought mattered the most? And now that you’ve been in it so long, what are the stats that impress you?
A: When I came in, I thought, obviously, the scoring record was incredible. I never thought anybody would be able to catch that, for all the years that Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] played.
I thought the triple-double record was incredible as well. I thought nobody would catch that. I mean, obviously MJ’s six rings, I thought that was pretty cool, too. Because when I came in, I don’t think that Big Shot Bob Horry, Big Shot Bob didn’t have seven yet. I thought MJ doing a three-peat twice was super-duper dope as hell. For him to win six in eight years, I thought that was incredible.
Q: You made it to the NBA Finals eight straight years. That is a stat of yours that will be mentioned on the short list of your most notable achievements. The amount of endurance that went into that, playing into June for nearly a decade straight, can you even explain it?
Now looking back on it, I don’t think anybody will be able to ever do that again. But can never say never in this league.
A: No. When I was younger, I used to have the notion of like, people were getting on me for losing in the Finals, and when I was younger, I used to listen to it.
Yeah, but I am also fastest to 1,000 [points]. Fastest to 2,000. Fastest to 5,000. Fastest to 10,000. So, when I started realizing it was just a knock on me [that was a disingenuous argument], I started to appreciate it a little bit more. Like, I am pissed off that I didn’t have a better winning percentage individually in the Finals, but for people to try to turn it into a negative, it doesn’t bother me like it did when I was younger.
James’ annual road trips to Portland always involve more than just games against the Trail Blazers. It’s a chance to check in with the company that has employed him even longer than the NBA has: Nike.
James signed a seven-year, $90 million deal with the sports apparel giant before ever appearing in an NBA game, which made him a lightning rod for criticism (and envy) from others in the sport.
A: It was challenging. Especially for a 17-year-old, an 18-year-old at the time. But I think the best thing is, my mom was in my corner, my friends were in my corner. I had a good group and support system.
Q: You spent time with Moses Malone before your first NBA game, and, unlike other players who did not embrace you, he was always supportive. Were there any other players who supported you like that?
A: The best guys that were in my corner when I first came out of the draft were J-Kidd, Moses Malone, Ken Griffey Jr., Gary Payton.
Every time I saw them, it was just always love and support. There was no hating. Obviously I don’t know what they did behind closed doors, but I can say that when I see them, still to this day — except the late, great Moses — it’s been the same energy every single time.
A: No, I traveled that road on my own. There was nobody that kind of gave me the one-on-one playbook of what was to come. But they did give me that positive reinforcement that I made the right decision. And if I just put the work in and give myself to the game and give myself to the craft, then this s— would pay off.
I’m a good reader of energy. I am a good reader of good people and bad people. And having those four, it meant a lot.
In the summer of 2016, while James was still basking in the glow of the Cavs’ championship, he admitted why he still felt like he had work left to do as a basketball player.
“My motivation is this ghost I’m chasing,” he told Sports Illustrated. “The ghost played in Chicago.”
A decade later, the debate over James’ proper place in the GOAT conversation alongside Michael Jordan rages on.
Q: In your most honest, laid-bare basketball opinion, what did Michael do better than you and what do you do better than him?
A: There are a lot of things that MJ did better than I do. And I think there are some things that I do better than him. That’s just how the game goes. There’s a lot of things that I can say in particular. You already know how this conversation is going to be [misinterpreted] by people, man.