Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James will miss the team’s 2025-26 NBA season opener against the Golden State Warriors on October 21st.
James is dealing with sciatica on his right side and will be reevaluated in approximately three-to-four weeks, the team announced Thursday, per Dan Woike of The Athletic.
It was initially revealed that James is dealing with nerve irritation in his glute. He did not play in the Lakers’ first two preseason games.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick told reporters Thursday that James is “on his own timeline” amid his recovery.
The Lakers revealed James’ injury at the end of September, and ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that the team plans to be “overly cautious” through training camp and preseason.
“I’m told that LeBron’s camp has spoken to the Lakers, and they said, let’s be overly cautious with LeBron, because we want to be looking at the long view here,” McMenamin said. “If this team’s going to be contending for a championship, we need LeBron in his best shape from April through June.”
James spent the first part of his offseason recovering from a sprained MCL he suffered in the Lakers’ season-ending loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, though the injury didn’t require surgery.
Luckily for James, that was the first serious injury he had dealt with for a while. Despite his age, the 41-year-old has managed to stay on the court over the past two years, playing 70 or more games in each of the last two campaigns.
But it is to be expected that the oldest player in the league likely won’t be on the court every night, and it appears both he and the Lakers will prioritize having him healthy come playoff time rather than pushing him to play early on in the year.
With James set to miss some time at the start of the season, the Lakers will look to their star, Luke Dončić, to lead the way through the early going. Dončić, who is entering his eighth season and first full year with the Lakers, is looking to put together his first MVP campaign, and keeping the Lakers in the mix with James potentially out would help his case.
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