{"id":168212,"date":"2025-11-28T11:32:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T16:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=168212"},"modified":"2025-11-28T11:34:35","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T16:34:35","slug":"lebron-james-practice-g-league-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/11\/28\/lebron-james-practice-g-league-lakers\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James Reflects on Practicing with G League Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

LeBron James<\/a> hasn\u2019t missed a beat since returning from sciatica, averaging 17.7 points and 8.7 assists in three games so far. But at one point, his return to play process involved an intriguing component: practicing with the team\u2019s G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers.<\/span><\/p>\n

While many were surprised that an all-time great hit the floor with G Leaguers, James took the assignment in stride, discussing his brief stint in a podcast episode.<\/span><\/p>\n

LeBron James Reflects on Practicing with G League Lakers<\/b><\/h2>\n

In a Friday episode of \u201cMind the Game\u201d alongside Hall of Famer <\/span>Steve Nash<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>LeBron said<\/span><\/a> that practicing in the G League was bigger than his recovery process.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt could\u2019ve been the South Bay Lakers or it could\u2019ve been going to a recreation center and playing 5-on-5 versus guys, like I just love to hoop. \u2026 To finally get the clearance this week to go and play some 5-on-5 action, I had the luxury to have the South Bay Lakers in town while our big guys are out on the road. \u2026 I\u2019m super appreciative and humble to be able to go out there, and kind of change their practice a bit to kind of fit me as well. Just super cool.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nash, who coached the Brooklyn Nets from 2020 to 2022, highlighted that player rehabilitation is a key purpose of the G League. He likened it to MLB players going to the minor leagues for extra reps.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a message here for everybody\u2014whether you\u2019re a two-way, you\u2019re a first-round pick, you\u2019re a player in the league. This is what [the G League] is there for. \u2026 You shouldn\u2019t feel a way about going down to play on the G League team, practice with the G League team, get reps. I just think that\u2019s really important for young players to hear. It\u2019s about the game, and if you\u2019re putting ego or perception in the way of getting better, it\u2019s at a disservice to yourself.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

James agreed with Nash\u2019s sentiment, adding: \u201cHopefully, the time I spent with these guys the last couple of days, they learned something from me, I learned something from them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Nov
Nov 25, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) and guard Luka Doncic (77) high five during a time out in the second half against the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Newest Laker Reflects on LeBron\u2019s Time with South Bay<\/b><\/h3>\n

One of the newest members of the purple and gold got to see James\u2019 G League practice up close. <\/span>Drew Timme<\/span><\/a>, who joined LA on a two-way contract, earlier this week, <\/span>said<\/span><\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty crazy, man. I mean, that\u2019s the GOAT. To be able to share the court with him, especially being a G-League team, that\u2019s so outside of the normal, it was crazy. He came down, and our job was to help him get back into game speed, so we were just glad to help, and it was really cool to be able to hoop with him.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Other Stars with G League Stints<\/b><\/h3>\n

James is not the only star whose road to recovery included a G League appearance. <\/span>HoopsHype\u2019s Frank Urbina<\/span><\/a> compiled a list of stars that practiced in the NBA\u2019s developmental league, including <\/span>Amar\u2019e Stoudemire<\/span><\/a> (2012-13), <\/span>Blake Griffin<\/span><\/a> (2017-18), <\/span>Steph Curry<\/span><\/a> (2020), <\/span>Kawhi Leonard<\/span><\/a> (2012, 2024) and even <\/span>Anthony Davis<\/span><\/a> (2025). One of the latest stars to rehab in the G League is <\/span>LaMelo Ball<\/span><\/a>, who was <\/span>assigned to the Greensboro Swarm<\/span><\/a> while recovering from an ankle injury and, similar to James, <\/span>scrimmaged with the team<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

It goes to show, to James\u2019 and Nash\u2019s points, the G League is more than a place for extra reps and call-ups. It\u2019s where even the greats can work their way back to full strength and connect with young players on their own journeys to the NBA.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Rob Gray-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LeBron James hasn\u2019t missed a beat since returning from sciatica, averaging 17.7 points and 8.7 assists in three games so far. But at one point, his return to play process involved an intriguing component: practicing with the team\u2019s G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers. While many were surprised that an all-time great hit the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":168220,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3],"tags":[38,4937,1186],"class_list":["post-168212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-lebron-james","tag-south-bay-lakers","tag-steve-nash"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168212"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168223,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168212\/revisions\/168223"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}