LeBron James scored 30 points on his return for the Los Angeles Lakers at they won 123-118 at home to the San Antonio Spurs.
The Denver Nuggets, the NBA’s defending champions, won again at the Portland Trail Blazers while Tyrese Maxey scored 24 points as the Philadelphia 76ers won 104-97 at the Cleveland Cavaliers in a game shown live on the BBC.
And Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler was one of four players to be ejected following a melee during their 106-95 win at the New Orleans Pelicans.
Butler scored 23 points before being sent to the locker room in the fourth quarter, along with Miami reserve Thomas Bryant and Pelicans players Jose Alvarado and Naji Marshall.
Bam Adebayo had 24 points as Miami improved to a 31-25 record to join the Orlando Magic atop the Eastern Conference Southeast division.
James added nine assists and seven rebounds for the Lakers after missing their past two games to rest a sore ankle, although the played in the All-Star Game in between.
Anthony Davis added 28 points and 13 rebounds as the Lakers improved to 31-27, while Victor Wembanyama had 27 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists and added five blocked shots and five steals.
That made last year’s number one draft pick the youngest player in NBA history to achieve the rare ‘5×5’ statistical performance – including at least five points, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals in the same game.
“He doesn’t have a ceiling,” James said of the French rookie. “He can do whatever he wants to do in his career. I said a long time ago how special he was, and it’s really that simple.”
