{"id":27850,"date":"2025-11-18T03:04:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T03:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=27850"},"modified":"2025-11-18T03:04:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T03:04:05","slug":"lebron-back-in-training-edges-closer-to-lakers-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=27850","title":{"rendered":"LeBron back in training, edges closer to Lakers return"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>LeBron James took a giant step towards returning from injury on Monday after successfully completing a full practice session with the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n<p>The 40-year-old has not played at all this season after being laid low with sciatica last month &#8212; the first time in the NBA icon&#8217;s career he has missed the opening weeks of a season.<\/p>\n<p>But the veteran star came through a five-on-five practice at the Lakers training facility on Monday, and is under consideration to return when the Lakers face the Utah Jazz at home on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>James told reporters his timetable would be determined by his recovery from Monday&#8217;s practice.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve been taking it literally one minute, one hour, one step at a time throughout this whole process,&#8221; James said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;So, see how I feel this afternoon, see how I feel tonight. When I wake up in the morning, we&#8217;ll probably have shootaround. So, just got to see how the body responds over the next 24 hours-plus.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Lakers head coach JJ Redick said James&#8217;s status for Tuesday&#8217;s game was &#8220;TBD,&#8221; but said the veteran&#8217;s return to training was like acquiring &#8220;a new player.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was great to have him with the group&#8230; It&#8217;s the first time (this season) we&#8217;ve had all 14 guys available for our practice,&#8221; Redick said. &#8220;Good to have the whole group together bouncing back.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I know he&#8217;s itching to play, and itching to return,&#8221; the coach said, adding &#8220;we&#8217;ve got to see how he responds to today, and how he feels tomorrow morning.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>James meanwhile admitted that he had struggled to come to terms with missing the opening weeks of the campaign.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It definitely sucks,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Never in my life since I started playing the game have I ever not started the season.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been a mind test, but I&#8217;m built for it and been putting in the work, both mentally and physically, trying to get myself ready to rejoin the team.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Lakers have started the season with a 10-4 record and are fourth in the Western Conference standings.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James took a giant step towards returning from injury on Monday after successfully completing a full practice session with the Los Angeles Lakers. The 40-year-old has not played at all this season after being laid low with sciatica last month &#8212; the first time in the NBA icon&#8217;s career he has missed the opening [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}