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LeBron James will reportedly sit out Lakers' preseason with 'goal' of being ready for opener against Warriors

LeBron James seems to have made another decision, one that does not involve selling cognac.

As he deals with a nerve irritation in the glute, the 40-year-old Los Angeles Lakers star will reportedly sit out the rest of preseason to prepare for the team’s season opener, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.

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James, who is about to begin his 23rd NBA season, has been doing on-court work and is slowly ramping up his preparation.

Last week, Lakers head coach JJ Redick said that James would slowly build towards the regular season opener and wouldn’t be available when training camp opened. 

“It’s probably a little bit longer of a ramp-up leading up to opening night for him,” Redick told reporters. “In year 23, uncharted territory here.”

Redick then admitted the team may not have managed James’ game management properly last preseason, saying they felt like James did “too much” during training camp in 2024. But it didn’t seem to affect the four-time NBA MVP during the regular season as he played 70 games and averaged 24.4 points, 8.2 assists and 7.8 rebounds in nearly 35 minutes of action per night.

Yet those games he missed were due to foot and ankle soreness, which kept him out of the All-Star Game. James later suffered a sprained MCL during Game 5 of the Lakers’ playoff series loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, an injury that would have kept him out for weeks had it not been the final game of their season.

James has yet to say whether this will be his final NBA season, but at age 40, there aren’t many left for him and the Lakers are eager to see what sort of title run the team can make as he plays alongside Luka Dončić. They don’t necessarily need him in late October as they would prefer James to be 100% healthy when playoff time rolls around.

The Lakers have four more preseason games before they open the 2025-26 campaign on Oct. 21 against the Golden State Warriors.