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.”