From Broderick Turner: LeBron James stepped onto the Crypto.com Arena court about an hour before the Lakers were getting ready to play the Utah Jazz to start his pre-game routine, the buzz building from his every movement, everyone anticipating him playing in his first game of the season.
And so it began for James, the start of his NBA-record 23rd season, the right sciatica that kept him out of the first 14 Lakers games no longer holding him back.
James put on a show in the form of his dazzling passes to open teammates that pushed the Lakers to a 140-126 win over the Jazz on Tuesday night.
He was flashy with many of his 12 assists to go along with 11 points. He was four for seven from the field and two of three from three-point range in 29 minutes and 37 seconds of action.
James departed for good with 6:39 left and the Lakers leading by 19 points in a game Luka Doncic was a force with 37 points, 10 assists and five rebounds while Austin Reaves (26 points) and Deandre Ayton (20 points and 14 rebounds) were on top of their games again.
DODGERS
From Jack Harris: The Dodgers need an outfielder. Cody Bellinger is available.
So, eight years removed from his Rookie of the Year arrival, six years since his 2019 MVP season, and three years after an unceremonious end to his Dodgers tenure, could the team and its once-beloved homegrown slugger actually reunite this winter?
It’s not impossible, with the Dodgers believed to have Bellinger on their radar as they evaluate their options in free agency.
In an offseason of wide possibilities, but thus far tempered expectations from the Dodgers’ front office, Bellinger represents something of a wild card in the team’s potential winter plans.
ANGELS
The Baltimore Orioles acquired outfielder Taylor Ward from the Angels on Tuesday night for right-hander Grayson Rodriguez in one of the first big moves of baseball’s offseason.
The 31-year-old Ward hit a career-high 36 home runs last season, and he’ll join an Orioles team hoping to rebound after falling to last place in the AL East. To get him, Baltimore gave up the oft-injured Rodriguez, who was considered a potential ace for the Orioles but missed the entire 2025 season with elbow and lat problems.
The 26-year-old Rodriguez is 20-8 with a 4.11 ERA in 43 big league starts.
UCLA BASKETBALL
From Ben Bolch: It looked like a message sent with a bullhorn, a move made with all the subtlety of an elbow to the ribs.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin sent regular starter Eric Dailey Jr. onto the court for tipoff Tuesday night alongside four players who are normally reserves.
The regular starters weren’t sick or injured, they just hadn’t given the effort their coach wanted in practice. So in their place, Cronin started a group of players who had drubbed their teammates by 20 points the previous day in a game that didn’t count except in the mind of the Bruins’ coach.
Given a bigger role, that new group set an unmistakably energetic tone against Sacramento State at Pauley Pavilion, scoring the game’s first 13 points on the way to the No. 19 Bruins’ 79-48 victory.
“They pay me to win games and I thought that was the lineup that was ready to play tonight,” Cronin said, disputing the idea that he was putting his regular starters on notice. “I don’t believe in messages, I don’t believe in doghouses.”
USC BASKETBALL
From Ryan Kartje: Kara Dunn held her right wrist aloft for an extra beat. Just to be sure.
It had been a while, by that point in the second quarter, since USC had seen a deep jumper drop. As Dunn lifted off from behind the arc against Portland on Tuesday, 19 of the Trojans’ previous 20 three-point attempts, going back to Saturday’s battle with South Carolina, had missed, a stretch of futility strange to a team that mostly scored at will a season ago.
But before any of those early concerns grew too glaring Tuesday night, Dunn watched as her jumper safely found the bottom of the net. Within a few minutes from there, USC found its offensive mojo again, bouncing back from Saturday’s South Carolina loss to beat Portland, 78-51.
ANGEL CITY
From Kevin Baxter: It was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad season for Angel City FC. But it’s not one the team is running away from.
“Did we put it all together this year?” team president Julie Uhrman asked. “No.”
In fact, the team won just one of its last eight games; missed the playoffs for the third time in four seasons; saw attendance plummet; lost Alyssa Thompson, its best and most exciting player, on a million-dollar transfer; and watched its two most-decorated players — Ali Riley and Christen Press — retire after a season in which they combined for two starts.
For sporting director Mark Parsons, however, it still counted as progress. Yet the team has a lot of work to do to clear the high bar of community impact and soccer success it set as its twin goals when it launched in 2022.
“This season was about putting in all the foundations and all the pieces where we get to go compete for championships from ’26 and beyond,” Parsons said. “And I could not be happier with the success we’ve been able to do. That helps us win in the future.”
THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY
1961 — George Blanda of the Houston Oilers passes for 505 yards and seven touchdowns in a 49-13 rout of the New York Titans.
1961 — Cleveland’s Jim Brown rushes for 237 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Browns to a 45-24 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
1966 — No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Michigan State play to a 10-10 tie. The Irish rally from a 10-0 deficit against a Spartans team that features Bubba Smith and three teammates who were among the top eight picks of the next NFL draft.
1978 — Philadelphia’s Herman Edwards returns a fumble for a touchdown with 31 seconds left to give Philadelphia a 19-17 victory over the New York Giants. Instead of taking a knee to preserve a 17-12 victory, quarterback Joe Pisarcik botches the hand off to fullback Larry Csonka. Edwards picks up the dropped ball and runs 26 yards for the winning touchdown.
1983 — Jari Kurri of the Edmonton Oilers scores five goals and Wayne Gretzky adds three goals and five assists in a 13-4 rout of the New Jersey Devils.
1983 — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar becomes the second player in NBA history to score 30,000 points, joining Wilt Chamberlain, as the Lakers win 117-110 at Portland.
1992 — Oakland reliever Dennis Eckersley is selected the American League’s MVP. Eckersley, who led the majors with 51 saves in 54 chances, becomes the ninth player to win the Cy Young Award and MVP honors in the same season.
1993 — Oregon and Oregon State play to a 0-0 tie in Eugene. It’s the last scoreless tie in FBS history. Overtime for NCAA games starts in 1994.
1994 — Rashaan Salaam becomes the fourth 2,000-yard rusher in major-college history, running for 259 yards and two touchdowns in Colorado’s 41-20 victory over Iowa State.
1995 — The Baltimore Stallions defeat the Calgary Stampeders 37-20 to become the first U.S. team to win the Grey Cup in the CFL’s 83-year history.
2004 — Indiana’s Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson charge into the stands to fight with Auburn Hills fans in the final minute of their game against the Detroit Pistons. The brawl forces an early end to the Pacers’ 97-82 win.
2006 — Jaromir Jagr becomes the 16th NHL player with 600 goals when he scores in the first period of the New York Rangers’ 4-1 win over Tampa Bay.
2009 — South African runner Caster Semenya will keep her 800-meter gold medal from the world championships, and the results of her gender tests will be kept confidential.
2011 — Robert Griffin III of Baylor passes for 479 yards and four TDs, including a 34-yarder to Terrance Williams with 8 seconds left, and the 25th-ranked Bears beat No. 5 Oklahoma for the first time, 45-38. The Bears were 0-20 against the Sooners.
2018— Jared Goff throws a 40-yard touchdown pass to Gerald Everett for the go-ahead score with 1:49 to play, and the Rams outlast the Kansas City Chiefs for a 54-51 victory. Patrick Mahomes has a career-high 478 yards with six touchdown passes for the Chiefs. This is third highest-scoring game ever played.
2018 — Rutgers holds Eastern Michigan to an NCAA-record low four first-half points in a 63-36 rout. The Scarlet Knights tied a men’s NCAA Division I basketball record for points allowed in a half. The halftime score is 31-4.
2019 — LeBron James scores 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists as the Lakers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-107 to become the first player in NBA history to record a triple-double against all 30 franchises.
Compiled by the Associated Press
Until next time…
That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.