NEW YORK — LeBron James made his preseason debut with the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday (10/8) against the Brooklyn Nets, and to no one’s surprise, the NBA legend played well.
James logged 18 minutes against the Nets, all in the first half. He finished with 10 points, four rebounds and five assists while shooting 1-of-1 from the field and 8-of-8 from the free-throw line.
The future Hall of Famer, who is 41 and turns 42 in December, led the 76ers with a plus-minus of +10.
“We’re just trying to build on what we’ve been doing in training camp,” James said after the game. “So it did feel good to get pretty much everyone that was active tonight [to] get out there and get some run.”
The 76ers started James alongside Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Jaylen Brown and Joel Embiid.
That five-man lineup outscored the Nets by two points in the 10 minutes it was on the court in the first half.
“Obviously, small sample size and we’re still trying to learn each other on the floor,” James said. “We’re still trying to put each other in a position to be successful and complement each other the best way we can out on the floor, but it’s going to take some time, but tonight was a good sample size for us to build on.”
LeBron Speaks About Playing In 76ers Uniform For 1st Time
James is in Year 24, but he did something against the Nets he’s never done before, and that’s play in an NBA game wearing a 76ers uniform.
The four-time MVP, who has played for the Cleveland Cavaliers (twice), Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers, spoke about what it was like to play in a Philadelphia uniform for the first time.
“I mean, it felt a little different obviously, just wearing a new uniform,” James said. “But the game is the game, and the games need to be played on the floor, and I was happy to be able to log some minutes with the guys that we’ve been going at each other and practice for last what two weeks or week and a half or whatever the case may be, however long we’ve been practicing, but it was great to finally just go out there and like I said, log some minutes with the guys that we know going to be in the fold.”
Philadelphia has two preseason games remaining: at the Boston Celtics on Saturday (10/10) and at home against Boston on October 16.
James and the 76ers open the regular season on October 20 against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
James: ‘Every Day Is Getting Better’
James not only left the Lakers for the 76ers, but he also left his family.
James’ son, Bronny James, is on the Lakers, and LeBron’s wife (Savannah) and daughter (Zhuri) live in Los Angeles.
The NBA icon made a giant personal sacrifice to join Philadelphia.
“Every day is getting better,” LeBron said. “Obviously, I’m going to have some days where days will be better than others, but when I get to the facility, when I’m around these guys, it definitely helps. We got good energy, good spirit.”
James has been in the NBA since 2003. He played in 60 games last season with the Lakers.
The Akron native averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game.
