Overview
- James is cleared to face the Pistons in Los Angeles on Tuesday, positioning him to become the ninth NBA player to score after turning 41.
- He is coming off 24 points on 11-of-13 shooting against the Kings, an 84.6% mark that was his best single-game field-goal percentage as a Laker and the third-best of his career.
- For the season he has averaged 20.5 points, 6.7 assists and 4.9 rebounds on 50.7% shooting in 32.9 minutes after missing the first 14 games with sciatica.
- The Lakers are 20-10 following a 125-101 win over Sacramento and will be short-handed again with Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent out, while Detroit enters at 24-8.
- Coach JJ Redick called James' longevity remarkable and detailed role tweaks to keep him effective, and a viral post claiming Michael Jordan called James the GOAT was debunked as false.