LOS ANGELES — LeBron James scored 42 factors in a profitable return to the Drew League whereas teaming up with DeMar DeRozan for a 104-102 win in L.A.’s famed pro-am basketball league Saturday.
Longtime Drew League commissioner Dino Smiley instructed ESPN he anticipated Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving to play within the sport previous James and DeRozan’s, however that didn’t happen.
“We nonetheless have a pair video games left in the present day after which six tomorrow, so we’ll see,” Smiley mentioned late Saturday afternoon.
Smiley mentioned Irving enjoying Saturday “sounded prefer it was going to be a positive guess, however I do not know what occurred.”
Whereas the Drew League’s Saturday slate was being performed close to Compton, California, some 55 miles away in Thousand Oaks, a participant at Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Phil Helpful’s ladies’ basketball abilities camp posted a video of Irving working with the campers to her Instagram account.
Helpful coached Irving for 5 seasons after they have been each part of the Cleveland Cavaliers group.
The Drew League sport Saturday marked the primary public glimpse of the 37-year-old James enjoying basketball in additional than three months. He missed seven of the Lakers’ closing eight regular-season video games within the spring due to a left ankle sprain and missed 26 video games in all of 2021-22, which ended up being one of the disappointing seasons in franchise historical past.
“I am 100% wholesome,” James instructed ESPN in the course of the first half of motion.
He completed with 42 factors on 18-for-36 taking pictures (2-for-13 from 3), 16 rebounds, 4 steals and three assists. DeRozan, a Drew League staple who invited James to play on his and fellow Southern California native Casper Ware’s crew, scored 30 factors on 9-for-23 taking pictures with 14 rebounds.
James and DeRozan’s crew, known as the MMV Cheaters, trailed crew Black Pearl Elite by as many as seven factors within the fourth quarter earlier than storming again.
DeRozan’s feed to James for a two-handed, rim-bending dunk with 1:22 remaining put MMV up by six and seemingly in management. However BPE adopted with a 3-pointer and a layup created by stealing an inbounds move, and James was abruptly in jeopardy of dropping his first sport again on the Drew League in additional than a decade.
Following a timeout, MMV inbounded the ball to James, who was fouled with 4.5 seconds left, sending him to the free throw line along with his crew up 103-102.
He made the primary. After which issues bought attention-grabbing.
“I walked as much as LeBron up the tip, and I instructed him, ‘Hey, I want one [miss],'” Mike Nwabuzor of BPE, who performs professionally abroad, mentioned afterward. “And he truly smoked the free throw. In order that was in all probability the perfect second. However the entire sport was enjoyable. Nice competitors. It is simply nice to share the court docket with him.”
James missed the second free throw, however Ethan Alvano of BPE put up a possible game-winning 3 on the buzzer that fell quick, and James raised his fist in victory.
“I believed we actually may have pulled it off,” mentioned Alvano, who lately signed a two-year contract to play in South Korea. “We had some errors down the stretch. However, man, that is a lifelong dream to play towards, with, no matter with LeBron James. Somebody that I grew up watching, somebody I grew up idolizing. So it was an honor, it was a blessing to share the court docket with him.”
It was James’ first look on the Drew League — which was based in 1973 and has seen a pilgrimage of NBA gamers descend on the Charles Drew Junior Excessive Faculty gymnasium in the course of the summers for many years — because the NBA lockout in 2011.
“When that first occurred it was a shock as a result of Baron [Davis] introduced him in to play, and I feel he was coming simply to observe, after which he bought excited seeing the group and the sport after which he needed a jersey,” Smiley mentioned. “So, that is how that one happened.”
Davis was one in every of a couple of dozen former or present NBA gamers readily available to observe Saturday, a gaggle that additionally included Draymond Inexperienced of the Golden State Warriors; Montrezl Harrell of the Charlotte Hornets; and Kendrick Nunn and Talen Horton-Tucker of the Lakers.
Irving’s absence erased a lot of the intrigue for the day surrounding James and his former teammate.
Irving lately picked up his $36.5 million participant possibility for the 2022-23 season with the Brooklyn Nets, and James is within the closing 12 months of his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, though he can be eligible to signal an extension with L.A. beginning subsequent month.
Los Angeles has engaged Brooklyn in commerce talks in current weeks to try to accumulate Irving in a deal that may ship Russell Westbrook to the Nets, sources instructed ESPN. To this point, these talks haven’t progressed towards an settlement.
As a substitute, the main focus was on the court docket, with James — 4 years into his Lakers tenure — ingratiating himself with the L.A. basketball scene.
“For him to be right here and are available to the center of the ‘hood the place common persons are day by day that look as much as him, he is a famous person so for him to return right here and beauty these individuals along with his presence, I feel it is tremendous dope,” Alvano mentioned. “I am glad he did it and it is nice for the group.”
Added Smiley: “It was simply an epic, epic afternoon of basketball.”