LeBron James to miss start of the season with new injury

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James. Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

LeBron James to miss the start of the 2025-26 season with new injury

By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated Oct 9, 2025 5:58 PM ET

LeBron James will begin his 23rd NBA season on the sideline, as the Los Angeles Lakers star is dealing with a new injury.

The Lakers announced on Thursday that James will be out for at least the next three weeks due to sciatica in his right side. The plan is for the 40-year-old to be reevaluated at some point near the end of October or beginning of November.

The Lakers begin their season with a home game against the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, Oct. 21.

If James is held out for a minimum of three weeks, that means he will not be able to return any sooner than Oct. 30. He will have missed at least five games by that point.

LeBron James will be re-evaluated in approximately 3-4 weeks with sciatica on his right side, the Lakers announce.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 9, 2025

LeBron James has remained relatively healthy

Despite his age, James has managed to stay fairly healthy over the past two seasons. The 21-time All-Star played in 70 games last season and 71 the year before. He missed the 2025 All-Star Game due to a foot injury and sat out several games in March with a groin ailment, but there was nothing that sidelined him for an extended period.

LeBron continued to play at a high level last season with 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game. He exercised his $52.6M player option this offseason, but he raised some questions about his future with the Lakers at the same time.

With Luka Doncic entering his first full season in L.A., the Lakers are hoping to contend for a championship. They will likely need James to remain healthy in order to do that, so it is no surprise they are playing it safe with the four-time NBA Finals MVP at the start of the year.

Steve DelVecchio

Steve is a veteran writer who has covered a variety of sports and pop culture topics for more than 15 years. In addition to Yardbarker, his work has been featured on prominent digital publications including Larry Brown Sports, MSN and FOX Sports. The UConn graduate has published more than 40,000 stories and is one of the most experienced trending news writers in the country

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