When will LeBron James and the Lakers face the Cavaliers this season?
The Los Angeles Lakers will start the regular season on Oct. 21 at home against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. They will then face the Houston Rockets and their new superstar, Kevin Durant, on Christmas Day at Crypto.com Arena.
Ever since LeBron James came to the Lakers in 2018, one important game each season has been the one in which they head to Northeast Ohio to play the Cleveland Cavaliers, James' original team. Per Dave McMenamin, L.A. will visit the Cavaliers on Jan. 28, 2026.
James played a total of 11 seasons with the Cavs, spanning two separate stints. With his future with the Lakers in doubt, there have been some rumors that he may force a trade at some point in the upcoming months, and the Cavs are one team people think could be a destination for him.
Cleveland went 64-18 last season but got stunned in the second round of the playoffs by the streaking Indiana Pacers. While some, including ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, may feel Cleveland would give him a better shot at his fifth NBA championship than the Lakers could right now, working out a trade that would satisfy the Lakers, Cavaliers and James would be extremely difficult.
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USA Today
21 minutes ago
- USA Today
LeBron James will break another long-standing record on Opening Night
I gotta be honest. At this point, I assume that LeBron James already holds most of the relevant individual NBA records. I mean, James has been playing professional basketball for 20 years. He did surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA's all-time scoring leader a couple of years ago. He's an all-timer still playing at an All-Star-caliber level at the age of 40. Those kinds of guys usually rewrite the record books as they go, you know? LA TENSION: LeBron is overstaying his welcome with Lakers But no. With the NBA revealing the schedule for some of its more notable 2025-2026 marquee dates on Tuesday, James somehow has another impressive accolade in his crosshairs. When his Los Angeles Lakers play the Golden State Warriors on Opening Night, James will officially become the all-time leader in NBA seasons played, surpassing the legendary Vince Carter, with whom he is still currently tied at 22 seasons apiece. Again, this is objectively bonkers now that I see it at face value and laid out like this, but I'm surprised James hadn't already achieved this! Well, the more you know: I'm gonna be candid again. I think James is the best basketball player ever. Full stop. I will definitely appreciate him while he's still around, but I really hope he will just retire soon already. It'd be nice and appreciated if he stepped out of the spotlight for the NBA's next generation. But if he's going to keep stacking achievements like this as an active NBA player, who are any of us to hate on that? He's penning his legend every time he steps on the court. Who are some of the other NBA icons with the most seasons played? I'm glad you asked. Aside from James and Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, Kevin Garnett, Kevin Willis, and Robert Parish all played at least 21 seasons. Next to James, Chris Paul is the only other active player with at least 20 seasons played. Can James break any other NBA records this year? Yes! If the Lakers' forward plays at least 50 regular-season games this season, he will surpass Parish (1,611) for the most-played regular-season games all time.
Miami Herald
21 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Where does Heat stand in East? Veteran scout weighs in. And Kai Jones update
Where has a busy NBA offseason of transactions left the Heat in the Eastern Conference hierarchy? I explored that and looked at every Eastern team's rotation in this piece. On Monday, I asked a longtime Eastern Conference scout to offer his perspective on Miami's place in the East following the addition of Norman Powell. Some feedback: ▪ On where the Heat stands in the East after the Bucks added Myles Turner; the Pacers lost Turner to free agency and Tyrese Haliburton to a torn Achilles; the Magic added Desmond Bane; the Hawks improved significantly and the Celtics lost Jayson Tatum to a torn Achilles and parted ways with Kristaps Porzingis, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford and Luke Kornet for financial reasons: 'Let's start with who's better. I see six teams for sure: New York, Cleveland, Orlando, Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee. Philadelphia is better if they're healthy. So I would say the Heat's a solid play-in team, in the same ballpark as Indiana and potentially better than Boston. They're not 10 or 11; they're more like 7, 8 or 9. 'It's around a .500 team. If they won 45, it would be a great year. They're not bad, but they're not good. Chicago is mediocre; the Heat is maybe a little better than mediocre. They have three very good NBA players with [Bam] Adebayo, [Tyler] Herro and Powell. We'll see about Ware. Andrew Wiggins is meh at this point.' ▪ On acquiring Powell from the Clippers, at the cost of only Kyle Anderson and Kevin Love: 'That's a very good move. He's coming off a career year, and his shooting has been very good. The strange part is early in his career he was a defensive guy. 'His defense was not very good last year. He became much more of an offensive player. Can he really become a two-way player? Even if he can't, he can put the ball in the basket, and they needed scoring and shooting.' ▪ What about a potential starting lineup of Powell, Herro, Adebayo, Ware and Wiggins? 'That backcourt would be very shaky defensively. Herro as a primary ballhandler, I don't know. Herro as a No. 1 point guard is funky to me. Ideally Powell is your sixth man and finishing the game. Starting Davion Mitchell would give you a guy that can guard.' What about Powell sharing some of the ball-handling duties with Herro and Adebayo if Mitchell plays off the bench? 'Powell is not a handler,' the scout said. 'He's not a secondary ballhandler either, in my view. He is a scorer. He is laser focused on shooting and scoring.' ▪ On Simone Fontecchio, who was acquired from Detroit in a sign-and-trade involving Duncan Robinson: 'The year before last was good,' when he averaged 10.5 points and shot 40.1% on threes. 'He's not a great athlete and somewhat one-dimensional, but he's very competitive. 'I wouldn't call him a three-and-D guy. But he tries on defense. He struggled last season. He doesn't have much handle. But give him consistent minutes and he could be a guy that can make shots and a Heat culture guy. Not a great athlete. He's probably your ninth man [with Haywood Highsmith possibly out to start the season after knee surgery]. Is he even playing on a good team? Maybe.' ▪ On first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis: 'NBA people I talked to in Las Vegas were killing him, didn't have anything nice to say about him. Quickness and shooting were my concern. Can he beat [skilled NBA players] off the dribble? He better be able to make shots. His play was disappointing, but I'm not ready to judge. He's [very young at 19].' Kai Jones is spending four days working out at Kaseya Center this week as the Heat evaluates whether to sign the veteran power forward/center. One involved source said the Heat long has shown an appreciation for Jones' skill set but is merely 'kicking the tires' to see if signing him would be something worth considering. Jones, 6-11, has played for Charlotte, the Clippers and Dallas in a three-year career and averaged 3.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 0.5 blocks and 10.1 minutes in 107 games and six starts. He played well in 12 games (and six starts) for Dallas late last season, averaging 11 points and 6.4 rebounds in 21.7 minutes per game while shooting a remarkable 83.6 percent from the field (61 for 73). Jones — who attended Orlando Christian Prep and Brewster Academy in New Hampshire — was drafted 19th overall by the Knicks in 2021 and immediately traded to Charlotte. A native of the Bahamas, Jones, 24, played in 28 games off the bench for the Clippers last season before being released March 1; he joined the Mavericks on a two-way contract the next day. The Heat has 14 players under standard contracts; teams can carry no more than 15 once the regular season starts but aren't obligated to begin the season with 15 players. Miami, which could use one more backup in its power rotation, could opt to fill the 15th spot before training camp or sometime early in the season. Another option for the Heat would be signing Jones to an Exhibit 10 contract, allowing him to compete for the 15th guaranteed contract during training camp. ▪ The Heat will not be featured in any of the league's marquee television slots announced Tuesday, not a surprise for a team coming off a first-round playoff drubbing. As expected, ABC, ESPN and the NBA opted against showcasing the Heat on Christmas for a second year in a row. Miami also won't be featured in any national telecasts during the first week of the season or on Martin Luther King day. The NBA's Christmas ABC/ESPN games, in order, will be Cleveland-New York, San Antonio-Oklahoma City, Dallas-Golden State, Houston-Lakers and Minnesota-Denver. The first four of those games will compete with three NFL games on Christmas: Dallas-Washington and Detroit-Minnesota (both on Netflix) and Denver-Kansas City (on Amazon Prime). NBC, beginning an 11-year deal with the NBA, will carry Oklahoma City-Houston and Lakers-Warriors on opening night (Tuesday, Oct. 21). The Heat is expected to receive very few national telecasts this season. The NBA will announce each team's four group-play NBA Cup games on Wednesday and will release the full schedule on Thursday, with two of the 82 games to be determined after NBA Cup group-play is concluded.
UPI
22 minutes ago
- UPI
NBA announces opening night, Christmas, MLK schedules
1 of 5 | Star forward LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers will host the Golden State Warriors at 10 p.m. EDT Oct. 21 on NBC and Peacock. File Photo by Aaron Josefczyk/UPI | License Photo Aug. 12 (UPI) -- The NBA announced 17 matchups for the 2025-26 regular season Tuesday, including two on opening night, five on Christmas and four on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder will host Kevin Durant and the Houston Rockets in the regular season opener. That game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. EDT Oct. 21 in Oklahoma City. LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers will host Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in the opening night finale at 10 p.m. Oct. 21 in Los Angeles. The opening night matchups will air on NBC and Peacock. ESPN will air an additional four opening week matchups, starting with a New York Knicks-Cleveland Cavaliers matchup at 7 p.m. Oct. 22 in New York. Cooper Flagg, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and the Dallas Mavericks will host No. 2 pick Dylan Harper and the San Antonio Spurs at 9:30 p.m. Oct. 22 in Dallas. The Indiana Pacers will host the Thunder in an NBA Finals rematch at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23 in Indianapolis. The Warriors will host Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets at 10 p.m. Oct. 23 in San Francisco. Peacock will air two exclusive matchups on Oct. 27. The Detroit Pistons will host the Cavaliers in the first game at 7 p.m. in Detroit. Anthony Edwards and the Minnesota Timberwolves will host the Nuggets at 9:30 p.m. in Minneapolis. The Knicks will host the Cavaliers again to launch NBA's Christmas Day slate. That game will tip off at noon in New York. The Thunder will host the Spurs in the second of five Christmas matchups at 2:30 p.m. in Oklahoma City. The Warriors will face the Mavericks at 5 p.m. at Chase Center. The Lakers will host the Rockets at 8 p.m. in Los Angeles. Jokic and the Nuggets will host the Timberwolves in the Christmas Day finale at 10:30 p.m. in Denver. The Christmas games will air on ABC and ESPN. The Atlanta Hawks will host the Milwaukee Bucks in the first of four Martin Luther King Jr. Day matchups at 1 p.m. Jan. 19 in Atlanta. The Cavaliers will play the Thunder at 2:30 p.m. in Cleveland. The Knicks will take on the Mavericks at 5 p.m. in New York. The Pistons will host the Boston Celtics at 8 p.m. in Detroit. The Martin Luther King Jr. matchups will air on NBC and Peacock. The NBA plans to announce additional matchups throughout this week as part of a schedule release campaign.
