Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is currently in his 21st NBA season and really has shown no signs of slowing down.
Through the Lakers’ first three games, James is averaging 23 points, 10.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists while shooting 57.1% from the field. He finished with 27 points, 15 rebounds and eight assists in Sunday night’s loss to the Sacramento Kings, joining Anthony Davis as the first Lakers duo to each record at least 25 points and 15 rebounds in a game since Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant in 2002.
Sunday night was an extra special one for James though as it marked the 20-year anniversary of his NBA debut, which happened to come in the same city of Sacramento. After the game, James talked about how cool it was to be back in Sacramento and still playing all these years later, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“It’s pretty cool. When you look at to the date, actual to the date of Oct. 29, it’s been 20 years since the start of my career. Being here in Sac, obviously it was Arco Arena at the time, but still a lot of memories. It’s pretty special. Pretty special that I’m still doing it, still playing the game that I love and it’s been a long journey.”
LeBron also took to social media to commemorate the moment, sharing a picture of his breakaway dunk in the fourth quarter along with a similar photo from 20 years ago:
It’s easy to take James for granted, but what he is continuing to accomplish in the 21st season of his career is nothing short of amazing. He would later compare his dunk from Sunday night to the one from 20 years ago:
“Any moment that you get where you came back to where [it started], for me I was an 18 year old kid playing the game that I love. The dream coming true for me to be on an NBA floor and play in a regular season game, to have a breakaway, the one 20 years ago obviously came off a steal, a reverse pass and I was able to play the pass lane and get the reverse pass. Tonight it was off a tip off an offensive rebound and I was able to take it and slam it home. So some pretty cool correlation, for sure.
Despite contemplating retirement over the summer, James ultimately decided to come back for his 21st season. It’s clear that he still has a lot left in the tank, but if the Lakers want to make his decision worth while then others will need to start stepping up to avoid a tough overtime loss like they suffered on Sunday night when LeBron returned to Sacramento.
Darvin Ham digging in to figure out better rotations
One issue that has plagued the Lakers so far on the young season is poor lineup construction. That is something that head coach Darvin Ham recognizes as he said after the Kings loss that he will dig into the film to figure out better rotations moving forward.
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