LeBron James certainly didn’t look like he had been away from an NBA court for nearly seven months when he began his unprecedented 23rd season, even if his burning lungs told him otherwise.

The NBA season opens Tuesday with a record 135 players born outside the U.S. They come from 43 countries, with 71 players from Europe.

LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Kyle Lowry are making history as they enter their 20th NBA seasons or more.

Carmelo Anthony tied the tough lessons he learned coming of age playing basketball on the playgrounds of Brooklyn and Baltimore to him becoming one of the sports’ purest scorers and most decorated players ever in a night of speeches full of tears, laughs and calls for community during the induction of quintet of players into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

LeBron James is exercising his $52.6 million option with the Los Angeles Lakers for 2025-26, further confirming that he will become the first player in NBA history to play a 23rd season, a person with knowledge of the decision said Sunday.

LeBron James wasn’t ready to make any decisions about his future in the painful moments immediately after his 22nd NBA season ended with the Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round playoff exit.

In Year 20, Chris Paul started all 82.

LeBron James has become the first player in NBA history to score 50,000 combined points in the regular season and postseason.

The game hasn’t gotten easy for the Los Angeles Lakers since the trade deadline.

When LeBron James broke another NBA record earlier this month, the one for most regular-season minutes played in a career, his Los Angeles Lakers teammates handled the moment in typical locker room fashion.