CLEVELAND — LeBron James shed tears on the bench during the first timeout of the Los Angeles Lakers’ game against his former team, overcome by emotion during the Cleveland Cavaliers’ tribute video for him.
You see, there have been lots of tribute videos for James since he left Cleveland in July 2018 — like, eight — and, well, that’s never happened before.
If this is it, the last time James ever played a game here, then that was the moment to remember. The game was a blowout, easily won by the Cavs, 129-99, and James endured a tough night with 11 points and six turnovers on 3-of-10 shooting.
James, 41 and in the final year of his contract with the Lakers, hasn’t said if this season, his 23rd in the NBA, is his last. But if it is, then this game would most likely be the last time he plays at Rocket Arena, where he led the Cavs to their first and only championship in 2016 and where he played home games for 11 years.
A lot of Cavalier history woven into these Classic threads. #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/WxzzWWqrCs
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) January 29, 2026
As is typical when James returns to Cleveland with the Lakers, the Cavs played a tribute video for him that includes, but is not limited to, footage from that championship run. The video concluded with the tag line “welcome home.” Instead of raising his hand to the crowd or maybe putting his hand over his heart, like he usually does in moments like this, LeBron covered his face with his hands, and then hid under his jersey.
When he left the bench after the timeout, he was clearly wiping tears from his face with a tissue.
“I think there’s certainly emotions always for him coming back here, and during the tribute video you could see that being back here is very important to him,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “There’s a human element to all of this.”
Oddly enough, the video played after the Lakers were forced to take a timeout after Luka Dončić tripped off the edge of the Cavaliers’ elevated court and grabbed at his ankle. After Miami’s Dru Smith injured his knee on a similar play in 2023, James told The Athletic the NBA “should address it.”
After limping to the locker room, Dončić was able to return to the game and finished with 29 points and six assists in 30 minutes.
This was James’ eighth game in Cleveland as a member of the Lakers, counting the 2022 NBA All-Star Game. He seemed to be in this kind of sentimental mindframe moments before the game, when, after conducting his famous chalk toss at the scorer’s table, he walked slowly toward the far end of the court, seemingly staring out into the crowd as though he saw memories in the stands.
It turned out to be the worst game he ever played against Cleveland. He’d never scored fewer than 18 points against the Cavs with Miami or the Lakers in 24 previous such games prior to Wednesday night. The Lakers were outscored by 23 points in James’ 27 minutes on the court.
All-Star Donovan Mitchell led the Cavs with 25 points, and Rising Stars honoree Jaylen Tyson added 20 points. Cleveland has won five straight and played without Evan Mobley, who is expected to miss one to three weeks with a calf injury.
James was the No. 1 pick of the 2003 draft, when he promised to light up Cleveland “like Las Vegas.” He led the franchise to five NBA Finals overall, including four in a row upon his return from Miami, beginning with the 2014-15 season.
As the game began to get out of hand in the second half, the sold-out crowd started chanting for Lakers’ second-year guard Bronny James, LeBron’s son, of course. Born in northeast Ohio, Bronny grew up in Cleveland running around on the court after games. Fans were delighted when Bronny took the court with 8:23 remaining and the Lakers down by, oh, approximately a million. They went nuts when Bronny scored on a breakaway layup inside of four minutes to go, and he followed that one up with two 3-pointers.
Bronny didn’t quite outscore his dad (he had eight points), but there is one thing he has more of than LeBron right now.
More years on his contract. Bronny, 2. Dad, 0.
This story will be updated.
