LeBron James had one of his best performances on Sunday against the Philadelphia 76ers. Early in the 2025-26 NBA season, James showed signs of struggle as he recovered from sciatica. The injury kept him from missing the Los Angeles Lakers‘ first 14 games. As he’s recovering from the injury, it took him some time to get back into his rhythm.
Against the 76ers, he was aggressive on offense and shot extremely well. The four-time champion made 70.6% of his shots, including four made 3-pointers. James added seven rebounds and six assists in the stat sheet. He was also important in the fourth quarter, leading the Lakers with his 12 points. The star forward also gave the team a five-point advantage when he shot a mid-range jumper late in the game.
His display earned praise from fans, teammates and even former NBA players. ESPN’s Marc Spears spoke highly of James’ vintage performance that helped the Lakers secure a 112-108 win.
“This is gonna be one of the greatest 3rd scorers the league has seen. If that’s your 3rd scorer and he can do that when they need him to do it but the good thing is he doesn’t have to do that all the time,” Spears said.
Marc Spears on Lebron turning back the clock last night:
"This is gonna be one of the greatest 3rd scorers the league has seen. If that's your 3rd scorer and he can do that when they need him to do it but the good thing is he doesn't have to do that all the time" pic.twitter.com/S4wOWRx2eM
— Oh No He Didn't (@ohnohedidnt24) December 8, 2025
LeBron James’ teammate, Deandre Ayton described the forward’s fourth-quarter dominance as a “GOAT moment.”
“Clutch genes. Felt like a movie,” Ayton said. “It was just me watching a movie, it was a GOAT moment. He had his moment, the fans felt it.”
James’ performance against the 76ers was his second 20-point outing of the season. It was important for him to show up big after his eight-point game against the Toronto Raptors on Thursday.
Magic Johnson praised LeBron James for his performance
LeBron James’ performance made it seem as if he had led the team throughout the entire contest. In reality, it was Luka Doncic who did most of the work, scoring 31 points, grabbing 15 rebounds and dishing out 11 assists. Still, James’ performance earned high praise from various people, including former Lakers star Magic Johnson.
Johnson called the star’s performance “spectacular” on X (formerly Twitter).
“LeBron James was nothing short of spectacular scoring 11 straight points in the 4th quarter (including three straight 3-pointers) and had 29 total points tonight to defeat the Philadelphia 76ers 112-108!” the five-time champion posted.
He also gave Doncic a shoutout and dubbed the Lakers the “most entertaining team.”
“The NBA’s leading candidate for MVP, Luka Doncic, had a triple double with 31 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists! The Lakers are the most entertaining team in the NBA right now.”
The Lakers are 17-6 and are second in the Western Conference. The team is looking to add another win over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
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Follow me on X at @BarbecueBro, and follow us at @HardwoodHeroics and @GridironHeroics. You can also reach out to Reign Amurao via email at reignamuraonba@gmail.com. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest sports news, click here!
Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen on Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
