In this week’s humiliation ritual, NBA sickos tasked with philosophizing the state of the NBA—injury reports full of stars only 15 games into the season—whose fault is this?
Giannis Antetokounmpo; out, groin.
Trae Young; out, knee.
Anthony Davis; out, calf.
Anthony Edwards missed games. Jalen Brunson missed games. Cade Cunningham missed games.
LeBron James—the biggest star on that injury report all season—though his injury is not the result of AAU tournaments, or a faster-paced game, or the length of the work schedule.
LeBron has sciatica.
He’s just 40 years old, playing in his 23rd NBA season and his back is killing him.
The Los Angeles Lakers, not too bad without LeBron.
10-4, 4th place in West, coming into their Tuesday night games against the Jazz.
40 years old, 23rd season, bad back, returned to an NFL combine 40-yard dash.
Lakers winning 140-125, LeBron, unlocking something the 2025-26 Lakers had not yet discovered: passing.
How did LeBron James look in his season debut?
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Lakers up 8 points with 6 seconds left to extend their lead going into the 4th—LeBron power walked it up the court, backed down Isaiah Collier at the arch—rocketed a low pass in the corner to Gabe Vincent. Splash.
LeBron only played the first 6 minutes of the 4th. 6 assists, 1 steal.
The Lakers FG’s from 10:44-7:29 in the 4th:
👑 LeBron ASSIST (Hayes Dunk)
👑 LeBron ASSIST (Gabe Three)
👑 LeBron ASSIST (Ayton Layup)
👑 LeBron ASSIST (Ayton Layup)
👑 LeBron ASSIST (Jake Dunk)
👑 LeBron ASSIST (Jake Three)6 AST in 3 minutes & 15 seconds… 🤯 pic.twitter.com/UiNZJMsNat
— Witness King James (@WITNESSKJ) November 19, 2025
This season—excluding Austin Reeves bursts of buckets—the Lakers offense laborious, grueling, taxing—Luka Doncic please save us.
Oftentimes, Luka Doncic can save them.
He leads the NBA in scoring.
In his ideal universe? Luka is the only one shooting the ball.
For him, passing is a means to an end.
Defenses can’t double him if he’s always looking for open shooters.
Throwing lobs means he can stop short of rim collisions—let the big man do the dirty work of finishing at the rim.
If Luka could jump like Obi Toppin, he’d average 4 assists.
But LeBron James truly gets all 5 players involved in the offense, so casually, effortlessly dropping pocket passes into his teammates’ laps—defenses no time to react as the ball whips from LeBron’s hand to the big rolling to the basket with a slight flick of the wrist.
Here’s what LeBron did in his season debut:
- 11 points
- 12 assists
- 3 rebounds
- 1 steal
LeBron James decided to just become the best point guard in the NBA.
And the Lakers need it.
Keyonte George is done rebuilding
This week, I wrote a little bit about Lauri Markkanen in Utah’s 150-147 double overtime win over the Chicago Bulls but can we talk about Keyonte George real quick?
At 22 years old, 3rd NBA season, Keyonte George is averaging a career-best 23 points per game—more than Paolo Banchero and Karl-Anthony Towns.
The hesi and lefty lay-in by Keyonte George was so nice pic.twitter.com/W7iUiOeunX
— Jazz Lead (@JazzLead) November 19, 2025
Here’s what Keyonte George did against the Lakers Tuesday night:
- 34 points
- 13-for-23 shooting
- 5 threes
- 8 assists
- 4 rebounds
- 2 steals
With Keyonte George and Lauri Markkanen dropping bombs, nightly—the Utah Jazz faced an opportunity to surprise the league, maybe sneak in the play-in—looking to add vets in the offseason to complement their automatic 50-point tandem.
But with Walker Kessler out for the season, Utah’s defense is buns—giving up the second most points this season, 26th in defensive rating,
Jusuf Nurkic treated like a celebrity at the dunk contest—the Jazz can’t win these contests.
And I don’t imagine they’ll be giving up assets to patch up their rim protection.
We’ve been robbed of a competitive Utah Jazz season.
Maybe the NBA does have an injury problem…
Thanks for reading.
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