LeBron James finally made his 2025-26 season debut on Tuesday when the Los Angeles Lakers hosted the Utah Jazz after being out for over a month due to sciatica. While he eased himself back into game action and didn’t assert himself a lot offensively, he still looked a lot like his usual self in terms of his movement and mobility, and especially his passing.

He dished out 12 of the Lakers’ 31 assists and propelled a fourth-quarter spurt that put the game out of reach. Los Angeles won, 140-126, and James ended up with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field, three rebounds, one steal and just one turnover.

He talked afterward about how it felt to get back to work during an actual game.

“Wind was a little shaky to begin,” James said. “Obviously that was expected, but as the game went on and on, my wind got a lot better. I caught my second wind, caught my third wind. Rhythm is still coming back, obviously. First game in quite a while, almost seven months. Everything that happened tonight was as expected.

“I think the pace versus a team like Utah, who play with a lot of pace, a lot of movement, a lot of cutting and things of that nature, tested us, tested me, obviously. I was happy the way I was able to keep up with the guys.”

Luka Doncic led the way with 37 points and 10 assists, while Austin Reaves added 26 points and forward Jake LaRavia added 16 points off the bench. Los Angeles has an 11-4 record and a three-game winning streak, and it ended Tuesday in fourth place in the Western Conference.

Now that it is fully healthy, it may be ready to turn things up a notch or two.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: LeBron James on how he felt during 2025-26 season debut