Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James turned 40 years old last month, but he suited up when L.A. took on the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday in what was the second game of a back-to-back for his squad. The Lakers played the Charlotte Hornets on Monday in the first leg of the back-to-back.
After seeing how Tuesday’s game unfolded, former NBA big man Brian Scalabrine said he couldn’t help but wonder if the Lakers incentivized James to play against Philadelphia by promising minutes for his son Bronny.
“I couldn’t help it, when he put him in, there were some guys that were out, but I couldn’t help thinking, I wonder if they convinced LeBron to play — because it was a back-to-back — by saying, ‘We’ll play Bronny and you guys can play together because we’ve got some guys out,'” Scalabrine said.
“It didn’t make sense why he was out there. They had guys out, but it was national television, back-to-back. They really had no chance to win that game. Watching them play, it was a strange one.”
The elder James stuffed the stat sheet with 31 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field to go along with eight rebounds and nine assists. But Los Angeles still lost to Philadelphia by 14 points, even after the Lakers outscored the 76ers in the final frame by nine.
The younger James, on the other hand, saw his most playing time in a single NBA game this season. He logged over 15 minutes of action. Unfortunately, he didn’t manage to score a single point during his time on the court.
The 20-year-old misfired on each of his five shots from the field, three of which came from behind the 3-point arc. He did contribute in other ways, however, with three rebounds, one assist and one blocked shot.
Tuesday marked the younger James’ first minutes with the Lakers since last week, when they earned an impressive win over the Boston Celtics. The University of Southern California product only received a few minutes of run in that contest.
The Lakers saw their winning streak get snapped when they fell to the 76ers on Tuesday. Los Angeles headed into the game having won its past four contests, with wins coming over the Washington Wizards, Celtics, Golden State Warriors and Hornets.
Now, the team will look to start a new streak. The number of minutes the younger James plays after he saw a considerable amount of action against the 76ers will be something to keep tabs on when the Lakers play the Wizards at Capital One Arena on Thursday.