LeBron James addressed those who have cracked jokes about him dealing with sciatica.
"If you ain't never had it, and people are making jokes about it, I pray you never get it," James told reporters following his first practice with the Los Angeles Lakers this season. "It's not fun."
ESPN's Shams Charania reported on Monday that James, who has missed the first 14 games of the 2025-26 season, has been upgraded to questionable for tomorrow's home game against the Utah Jazz.
LeBron disclosed that he dealt with sciatica during the offseason in 2023.
When asked if he's currently pain-free, James responded, "I won't take it that far."
"Like I said, if you ever had it, you just go about it, you wake up one day, and you hope that when you step down out of the bed, you don't feel it," he continued. "You go to bed at night, and you hope that when you get into bed, you don't feel it. So, I've been doing pretty good with it, as of late. It's a lot of exercises, and a lot of mobility things, and a lot of things you can do to help it. So, I'm just keeping a positive mindset about it."
James said his last major hurdle is working on his conditioning, comparing his lungs to a "newborn baby."
Without LeBron, the Lakers are currently fourth in the Western Conference with a 10-4 record.