Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

LeBron James shares his biggest challenge in returning from injury

By Steve DelVecchio | Last updated Nov 17, 2025 6:18 PM ET

LeBron James is ramping up to make his season debut with the Los Angeles Lakers, and it sounds like the steepest challenge he is currently facing has no direct relation to the sciatica that has held him out.

James returned to practice on Monday following multiple days of five-on-five sessions. The 40-year-old has been working his way back from sciatica on his right side that has caused him to miss the first 14 games of the season. While LeBron has said the sciatica issue caused a great deal of pain, his biggest issue at the moment is conditioning.

While speaking with the media on Monday, James said he feels like he has the lungs of a newborn baby.

"Obviously, my lungs feel like a newborn baby. That's the most important thing. I gotta get my lungs back up to a grown man," James joked. "My voice is already gone (from) one day back of barking out calls and assignments and stuff. I'm getting my voice working again, so it'll be a lot of tea and rest tonight."

LeBron James on how he’s feeling: “My lungs feel like a newborn baby.”

Says he’s trying to get his conditioning back up and his voice is already shot from yelling at practice, but he was happy to be back. pic.twitter.com/rl6WMAuYmw
— Thuc Nhi Nguyen (@thucnhi21) November 17, 2025

The Lakers have fared well without LeBron James

The Lakers have gotten off to a hot start even with James sidelined, which has likely taken some of the pressure off of him during his rehab. Luka Doncic has looked like an MVP candidate and is leading the NBA with 34.4 points per game. Austin Reaves has also come out of the gate firing with 28.3 points per game and stepped up in James' absence.

Still, there have been some hiccups. The Lakers were pummeled, 121-92, by the defending-champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday, which many took as a sign that L.A. still needs James in order to close the gap with the top teams in the Western Conference.

Though he will turn 41 on Dec. 30, James proved last season that he is still capable of playing at an elite level when healthy. He averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds per game in 2024-25 and finished sixth in NBA MVP voting.

If James can remain healthy after he returns, the Lakers have a chance of becoming a legitimate contender in their first full season with Doncic. James just has to get to work on that lung capacity.

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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