LeBron James’ Camp Conveyed To Los Angeles Lakers To Be ‘Overly Cautious’ With Him This Season

James appeared in 70 games for the Lakers last season. He averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.6 blocks and finished sixth in MVP voting and made the All-NBA Second Team.

The leading scorer in NBA history, James suffered a left knee injury against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 of the first round of the 2025 playoffs. He’s also dealt with foot and hamstring injuries the past couple of years.

“That’s always the challenge: How can I get my body close to 100 percent?” James told McMenamin at Lakers media day. “Obviously, coming off the MCL sprain last year, obviously, the foot has kind of given me a little problem from time to time throughout the course of the last few seasons. So, that’s always the challenge of seeing how I can get my body as close to 100 percent where I can go out and perform at a high level. So, I’m still ramping things back up. I’m not where I want to be. But I mean, I don’t want to be where I want to be right now in September. So, I got some time and I’m looking forward to the process of getting there.

“Obviously, I want to be out there as much as I can … but we know where I’m at, and the coaching staff knows where I’m at as far as me getting to a place where we’re all good as far as getting on the court. It’s Year 23 from me. I got a lot of miles on my game. I’ve trained throughout the course of the offseason, but just my presence is going to be important as well. Making sure that even if I’m not on the floor, I’m always in tune to what we’re doing so I know what’s going on at all times. So, just looking forward to that.”

James has one year left on his contract with the Lakers. He becomes an unrestricted free agent next offseason for the first time since 2018.

A four-time Finals MVP, James joined the Lakers in 2018. He guided the franchise to the 2020 championship against his former team, the Miami Heat, at the Walt Disney World bubble.