As the Los Angeles Lakers near a spot in the Western Conference playoffs, they’re about to see royalty return.
Sunday saw LeBron James upgraded to questionable before a game against the Chicago Bulls. It sparked buzz about his comeback from a foot injury. According to TNT/Bleacher Report’s Chris B. Haynes, the all-time great is now confirmed to be playing in tonight’s game.
And, by his standards, he’ll be doing it under some unorthodox circumstances.
Per The Athletic’s Shams Charania, as James eases his way back in, he’ll come off the bench vs. Chicago. Throughout James’ legendary career, this will have been the first time he comes off the bench since 2007 and only the second time in his career.
Yes, seriously:
1st time in LeBron has come off the bench since 2007. https://t.co/SbPAAwFtk3
— Michael Sykes, II (@MikeDSykes) March 26, 2023
Today will be LeBron’s 1,680th career NBA game.
It will be his 2nd game ever not starting.
His one other time not starting was in ‘07-‘08 when he wanted to come off the bench alongside Varejao because he was afraid Varejao would get booed due to a contract dispute.
— nick wright (@getnickwright) March 26, 2023
Here’s how James emphatically finished his pregame workout:
LeBron finishing up his warmup with an emphatic dunk pic.twitter.com/VuQuvuFaoM
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) March 26, 2023
While James’ status coming off the bench likely won’t last once he’s healthy and on no presumable minutes restriction, NBA fans were still wowed that this was only the second time ever he was a defacto “sixth man.”
LeBron James had started 1,080 consecutive games before today.
That was the 2nd-longest active streak in the NBA, trailing Chris Paul, who has started all 1,208 games in his career. https://t.co/RJXlaAHWmE
— Matt Williams (@StatsWilliams) March 26, 2023
Wow? This is shocking. https://t.co/kwM9O72W1F
— L.Z Hunter (@_OfficialProta) March 26, 2023
LeBron James has more total career points than any other player in NBA History to come off the bench 😳 https://t.co/RG3C5g8u5c
— RB (@RyB_311) March 26, 2023
The last time LeBron came off the bench was 6 months before Boston won the '08 championshiphttps://t.co/XNpM1t9DKR
— Taylor Snow (@taylorcsnow) March 26, 2023
Wow, the Lakers really are staggering LeBron and Austin Reaves, huh https://t.co/OBnCj8NrVj
— Bryan Toporek (@btoporek) March 26, 2023
i’m ngl I really thought this was possible when he returned but never thought they’d actually do it💀💀 https://t.co/0lO5fbswzT
— ♕davo.𓅓 (@shpillo_) March 26, 2023
LeBron James has played 1413 regular season games and only came off the bench ONCE prior to tonight.
That was on December 11th, 2007. https://t.co/fiaxLru0cK
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) March 26, 2023
This 8 game 6MOTY charge going to be legendary https://t.co/rttLanlgcb
— Lakersalltheway (@Lakersallthewa3) March 26, 2023
