LeBron James' 42-point show lights up Drew League; Kyrie Irving no-shows

LOS ANGELES — LeBron James scored 42 points in a successful return to the Drew League while teaming up with DeMar DeRozan for a 104-102 win in L.A.'s famed pro-am basketball league on Saturday.

Longtime Drew League commissioner Dino Smiley told ESPN he expected Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving to play in the game preceding James' and DeRozan's, but that did not occur.

«We still have a couple games left today and then six tomorrow, so we'll see,» Smiley said late Saturday afternoon.

Smiley said that Irving playing Saturday «sounded like it was going to be a sure bet, but I don't know what happened.»

While the Drew League's Saturday slate was being played near Compton, California, some 55 miles away in Thousand Oaks, a participant at Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Phil Handy's girls basketball skills camp posted a video of Irving working with the campers to her Instagram account.

Handy coached Irving for five seasons when they were both a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers organization.

Saturday's Drew League game marked the first public glimpse of the 37-year-old James playing basketball in more than three months. He missed seven of the Lakers' final eight regular-season games in the spring because of a left ankle sprain and missed 26 games in all in 2021-22, which ended up being one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.

«I'm 100% healthy,» James told ESPN during the first half of action.

He finished with 42 points on 18-for-36 shooting (2-for-13 from 3), 16 rebounds, four steals and three assists. DeRozan, a Drew League staple who invited James to play on his and fellow Southern California native Casper Ware's team, scored 30 points on 9-for-23 shooting with 14 rebounds.

James and DeRozan's team,