LeBron James returned the action on Wednesday after being suspended for the first time in his NBA career. The Los Angeles Lakers star was suspended for just one game and talked about the suspension after the Lakers’ overtime victory against the Indiana Pacers. James said that he was taking a nap when he first learned about the suspension.
“Rob [Pelinka] called me. I missed his call,” James told ESPN of the Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager calling him about the news. “As soon as when I checked my phone and it was a missed call, I was like, ‘I know I’m suspended.’ I mean, it’s some bulls—. But whatever.”
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James was suspended after striking Detroit Pistons center Isaiah Stewart in the face, causing him to bleed. It led to James missing the Lakers game aginst the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. I was devastated,” James told ESPN. “It’s my favorite place in the world to play, so I was looking forward to it. But it is what it is.”
James also set the record straight on the situation with him and Stewart. “There was a boxout on the free throw line. His elbow got kind of high, it got me — if you look, if you watch the film — it got me off balanced a little bit, and his elbow lifted my arm, and I basically tried to swim move, swim down on him, on his arm,” James said. “And when I swung down on his arm, he got off balance and the left side of my hand grazed his face. And I knew right away. So, I knew right away I had caught some part of his head. So, I went over to apologize to him, and obviously, you guys saw what happened after that. But definitely accidental.” James also said he has not spoken to Stewart since the incident.
Based on the way James played Wednesday night, he was more than ready to get back on the court. In the win, James scored a season-high 39 points including eight of the Lakers 12 points in overtime to help the team secure the victory and finish the five-game road trip with a 2-3 record
