LOS ANGELES — The night before LeBron James made his historical season debut with the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, becoming the first NBA player to reach his 23rd year, he hung out with Utah Jazz power forward Kevin Love, with whom he won a championship in Cleveland in 2016.
It wasn’t surprising how James wanted to spend the evening.
“He’s always watching basketball,” Love told me. “We were together last night, and he was going back and forth between a number of games, as well as watching the [Dallas] Cowboys play, which I didn’t care for. He knows every team’s plays. He knows every player’s tendency. He just has a true basketball mind.”
As James enters a season in which he will turn 41 years old following missing the first 14 games because of sciatica, there are many questions surrounding his career. How much longer will he play? Will his game decline? How well will he play alongside Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves? Can he handle this being Doncic’s team?
But if you ask Love, everyone should be focusing on something else.
“I don’t think we’ll fully appreciate him until he’s gone and out of the league,” Love told me.
LeBron James had 11 points and 12 assists in his return on Tuesday. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
And as Love emphasized, the sand is quickly falling through the hourglass.
“I don’t know how much longer [he’ll play] — whether it’s the end of this year [that he retires], I don’t think it will be,” Love told me. “But at the end of next year there’s a high likelihood that will be the case. I don’t want to make assumptions on what he’s thinking or what he’s feeling or how his family is feeling. But it’s coming sooner rather than later and he’s been pretty outspoken about that.”
The bigger point Love was making was that it’s remarkable that we can still watch one of the greatest players ever. That’s what matters. Not the storylines and questions and criticisms that constantly swirl around James.
Not to say that any of that bothers the superstar.
James was giddy that he was able to return to the court Tuesday after missing the start of the season for the first time since he began playing basketball at age nine, something which he said tested him “physically, mentally and spiritually.”
Things went pretty well for the 40-year-old, who hadn’t played in an NBA game since April 30. He had 11 points on 4-for-7 shooting, 12 assists and three rebounds in 30 minutes in the Lakers’ 140-126 win over the Utah Jazz. He effortlessly facilitated Doncic (37 points) and Reaves (26 points), breathing hope — instead of doubt — into what the offense will look like when James really becomes James following his extended absence.
James called his wind “a little shaky,” as he expected it would be. He scoffed at a question about the team’s potential offensive chemistry, adding, “I can fit in with anybody. I don’t even understand why that was a question. What’s wrong with these people out here?”
As for becoming the first player to reach 23 seasons, he couldn’t help but laugh when a reporter pointed out that seven Jazz players weren’t even born when he was drafted by Cleveland in 2003.
“Yeah, that just made my back hurt,” James said, chuckling.
While Lakers coach JJ Redick praised James’ play as “very unselfish” and Doncic gushed that “he does things other people can’t,” there’s no doubt that James’ play will be criticized Wednesday by talking heads, who will question his fit with the current iteration of the team, which sailed to an 11-4 start.
Can James really be a sidekick alongside Doncic? Can the player who’s earning $52.6 million still be a star at his age? The questions will be endless, dizzying and often contradictory, as they have been in their various forms throughout his career.
But the basic fact is this: Last season, James finished sixth in MVP voting at age 40 after averaging 24.2 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds, following a summer in which he led Team USA to a gold medal at the Olympic Games in Paris while winning MVP of the tournament.
And this: This Lakers team could be very competitive if James, Doncic and Reaves play unselfish basketball and learn when to oscillate between being selfish and selfless.
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Ever since the Lakers stunned the basketball world by acquiring Doncic in a trade last February, they’ve made it clear this is Doncic’s team. The Lakers are focused on the future, something James’ camp is sharply aware of, with James’ agent, Rich Paul, releasing a statement after the superstar picked up his player option over the summer in which he said they’re closely monitoring the Lakers moves, adding James “wants to make every season he has left count.”
The fact that Doncic is “the guy” was driven home Tuesday, when he was introduced last during starting lineups instead of James, who was introduced first. And as the two superstars warmed up alongside one another before the game, Serbian music blared through the speakers at Crypto.com Arena instead of music James would pick.
But that’s unimportant.
If James continues to thwart Father Time, if Doncic continues to have an MVP-caliber season and if Reaves continues to look like an All-Star, the Lakers could be something special.
That was emphasized Tuesday. But even more importantly, as Love pointed out, the biggest takeaway from that game was that we still get to watch James.
When Love was asked if he believes James is the greatest player of all-time, he didn’t hesitate.
“Do I?” Love asked me, incredulously. “Yes.”
Before the game, one Jazz player lamented, “Why did James have to return against us?” And ahead of taking the court, it was James’ music playing in the locker room, with him singing along to Al Green’s “Love and Happiness” and Bill Withers’ “Aint No Sunshine” as his teammates lined up to dap him.
One of the best players to touch a basketball was about to make history again.
James savored the moment. And so did those around him.
“Twenty three years,” Love said. “It is going to be highly unlikely that we see anything like that for a very long time.”
Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her at @melissarohlin.
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