LeBron James is expected to practice with the Los Angeles Lakers Monday, Nov. 17 after the team returns home from a five-game road trip, according to multiple reports.

The 40-year-old star did not travel with the team during the recent road trip.

James has yet to make his season debut due to sciatica, but when he returns for his first game, the four-time MVP will become the first player to play in 23 NBA seasons, breaking the tie he currently holds with Hall of Fame guard Vince Carter.

James’ official status is expected to be announced on Monday’s injury report after he practices with the team. It may also indicate if he is ready to play as early as Tuesday, Nov. 18 when the Lakers host the Utah Jazz.

The 21-time All-Star took a positive step forward over the weekend, working out with the Lakers’ G-League affiliate.The South Bay Lakers play against the Rip City Remix on Sunday, Nov. 16, but James is not expected to play. He began practicing with them on Wednesday, Nov. 12 and did not experience any residual effects from that workout when he returned for another workout on Thursday.

It was the first time James had participated in an NBA-organized 5-on-5 situation since the first round of the 2024-25 playoffs in April.

What is sciatica?

Sciatica is a pain caused by some level of irritation, pinching, or compression of the sciatic nerve, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

The sciatic nerve is located in the lower back and runs down the back of each leg. It begins from the lower part of the spinal cord and extends through the buttocks, back of the thigh and down to the foot.

As a result, the area of pain can range anywhere along the back of the leg.

What does this sciatica injury mean for LeBron James?

James has been one of the more dependable and available players, despite his age.

Still, he will turn 41 in late December and will likely need to manage his usage and body as the season progresses. Known for being a player who is exacting and meticulous about his body and his health, James will likely ensure he is fully healthy before making his return to the court. The Lakers are willing to give him the time and space to make sure that happens.

James has maintained that he wants to compete for NBA championships, so the nerve issue should not be a significant concern, provided the rest and recovery heal the injury. Given the length of the NBA regular season and playoffs, some missed time is to be expected for a player James’ age.

AI-assisted summary
• The men’s team pursuit set a new world record, while the women’s team pursuit won bronze on the final day of the World Cup speed skating event at the Utah Olympic Oval.
• Mia Manganello won gold in the women’s mass start, and Erin Jackson took silver in the 500 meters.
• Jordan Stolz won three gold medals earlier in the weekend but did not medal on the final day.

KEARNS, Utah — Jordan Stolz isn’t the only American speed skater who will be a medals threat at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

Though Stolz was kept off the World Cup podium Sunday – missing a medal in the second 500 meters by a mere 0.01 seconds – his U.S. teammates collected plenty of hardware.

Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman and Ethan Cepuran won the men’s team pursuit with a world-record time. Brittany Bowe, Mia Manganello and Greta Myers won bronze in the women’s team pursuit. Manganello then won gold in the women’s mass start.

Erin Jackson won a second silver medal in the women’s 500 meters, and her time of 36.57 seconds Sunday was a personal best.

This after Stolz won the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters the first two days of the World Cup, flirting with world records in both the 1,000 and the 1,500.

“It’s a really good start,” Jackson said. “I think we still have a lot more to show as well. We have a lot of deep talent in our team, and I think it’s going to be a good season for us.”

Do not read anything into the fact Stolz missed the podium Sunday, finishing fourth in the 500 and 15th in the mass start, which he raced for the first time at a World Cup since 2021. Olympic gold medals are not won, or lost, at the first World Cup of the season.

Rather, this weekend was a good way to gauge where you are. Where your competition is. What’s working. What needs tweaking.

“I was a little tired today from the previous races, but I think I’m in a good spot right now,” Stolz said Sunday night. “And as I get stronger, it’s going to get even better.”

Stolz leaves with three wins, a personal best and a lot of data points that will help him be even better at the Milano Cortina Olympics in February.

He also put himself in good position to lock a spot on the U.S. team ahead of the Olympic trials, needing only a top-five finish in either the 500, 1,000 or 1,500 meters at one of the next three World Cups. The next World Cup is next weekend in Calgary, Alberta.

Though Stolz was fourth in the 500, he skated faster than he had in Saturday’s race, which he won.

“I felt like I skated a better race today. I just didn’t have the power in the legs after all the races,” Stolz said.

But that is not an indication of … anything, coming at the end of a weekend in which he raced five times and his top competitors all having the races of their lives. Stolz’s performances over the first two days reinforced his status as the favorite in all three of the distances.

“He skated really well, won three races, so we know we’re in the right place and can’t worry about anything else,” Bob Corby, Stolz’s coach, said. “Just got to go back training again and try to play the balance of training and resting from now until Olympic trials and the Games.

“When it came up No. 4 (in the 500), I was like, `Oh! OK. Well, it’s OK.’ If it was four yesterday and four today, it would’ve been a little concerning,” Corby added. “But it was OK.”

Stolz also got a refresher on the mass start, which he hopes to race in Milan. His 15th-place finish keeps him in the ‘A’ race and, more importantly, gives him valuable intel of the competition for the next time he races it.

“I didn’t really have a strategy because it was the first one and I wanted to see what everybody else was doing,” Stolz said. “I’ll have to keep working on it and figure out which each guy does in the race.”

It’s one World Cup, and there are still 2½ months until Milan. But Stolz and the Americans are off to a strong start.

LAKE PLACID, NY — It was as if Alysa Liu couldn’t believe it. 

As her free skate ended and the crowd rose to their feet, the 20-year-old figure skater threw her hands on her head. She needed a big day on Sunday, Nov. 16 to win first place at 2025 Skate America, and she felt like she didn’t perform as well as she could’ve.

‘In my opinion, I did not skate that good,’ Liu said. ‘That’s why I was just like ‘ah, silly mistake.”

Despite how she felt her program went, the day ended with the hardware around her neck matching the color of her dress: gold. 

Liu delivered a powerful free skate to win Skate America for the first time in her career, and continue her stellar run as she heads toward returning to the Winter Olympics.

Liu delivered an emotional short program on Saturday, Nov. 16, letting the tears come down as the crowd serenaded her with a standing ovation. She considered herself “lucky to be able to cry over something,’ she said.

For as good as the performance was, Liu knew there were a couple of mistakes that likely left some points off her scoresheet. It showed with a second-place finish, less than a point behind Rinka Watanabe of Japan.

As the second-to-last skater inside the famed Herb Brooks Arena, Liu crushed her ‘MacArthur Park Suite” program, nailing her moves despite not feeling like performed her best. She earned a score of 140.54, a season-best for the one-time Olympian that set herself up for a chance at the top of the podium.

‘My body just moves with the music,’ Liu said of this free skate, which she brought back after using last season. ‘When I when I was like, oh, maybe I’ll go back to this program. I was like, no yeah, go back to this program. I love this program. It’s a great program.’

Watanabe was the final skater, and even though she had an early stumble, she was still strong with her triple axels. It looked like she had a good shot at first, but she received a 136.61, putting her total more than three points behind Liu.

It’s been quite the year for Liu. She won the world championship in March and finished second at the Cup of China less than a month ago. Now with the win at Skate America, she has her first Grand Prix win of her career, which will send her to the Grand Prix finals in December.

The strong year gives hope that Liu can be the American star should she qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina. The United States haven’t had a woman win a medal in the single’s event since Sasha Cohen in 2006, the longest drought the Americans have gone without taking home a medal.

Now after a strong showing in Lake Placid, New York, Liu continues her triumphant march toward a promising showing for what could be her second Olympic appearance − and she vows to be better than Skate America, hinting that she will be using her Lady Gaga medley in the future.

‘One good thing about making so many mistakes in a program is that I’m so motivated to not make any more mistakes in my next program,’ she said. ‘I’m excited to be able to showcase more.’

Madison Chock, Evan Bates cruise toward tying history

It was practically decided before Sunday, but the decorated American duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates cemented another accolade with a dominant first-place finish in the ice dance, cementing a big day for the Americans. 

The pair, now in their second season as a married duo, stormed out of the gates in the rhythm dance on Saturday, delivering a rocking Lenny Kravitz medley that was executed to a tee. They earned a 84.77, more than seven points than second place, a comfortable margin to be heading into the free dance with.

A clean skate would be more than enough to ensure another first place finish, and there were no mistakes when Chock and Bates performed their intense paso doble in the free dance to remind everyone why they are the class of the ice dance. Chock took on the spirit of a matador, using her skirt as a cape while Bates matched the energy. 

It earned them a score of 127.81, the second straight day they registered the best score of the event. In the final standings, Chock and Bates had 212.58 points, more than 15 points than second place finishers Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha of Canada. 

With the win, Chock and Bates have won Skate America for the fifth time, tying the ice dance record in the event set by Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto. It’s also their third time winning Skate America in the past four years.

It’s been a year full of winning for the duo, just having won the Cup of China three weeks ago. The first win of the 2025-26 season came after they won the world championship for the third-straight year. They now head to the Grand Prix finals, where they will try to win the event for another three-peat.

The Skate America champions are positioning themselves well for a return to the Olympics, which can be official at the U.S. championships in January, an event they have won for the past four years. 

A trip to the 2026 Winter Games would be their fourth appearance, with the hope of winning a medal in ice dance for the first time in their career.

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Josh Naylor is expected to remain with the Seattle Mariners after the team’s successful run in 2025.

Naylor is finalizing a five-year deal for an undisclosed amount, according to multiple reports. ESPN’s Jeff Passan was the first to report the news.

The Mariners have not yet confirmed the deal, which is pending a physical.

Seattle made Naylor a top priority during the offseason. The first baseman had 160 hits, 20 home runs, 92 RBIs, 81 run scored and 30 stolen bases this past season. He hit three home runs and had a 1.273 OPS (on-base plus slugging) in the American League Championship Series.

Naylor was traded to Seattle by the Arizona Diamondbacks for Brandyn Garcia and minor leaguer Ashton Izzi. Prior to being dealt to the Mariners ahead of the July 31 trade deadline, Naylor hit .292 with 11 home runs and 11 steals for Arizona.

Naylor made his Major League debut with the San Diego Padres in 2019 but was traded to Cleveland prior to the 2020 trade deadline. He played 4½ seasons with the Guardians and was named to the 2024 American League All-Star team. Cleveland then traded him to Arizona in December 2024.

KEARNS, Utah — The scary thing is, Jordan Stolz can get better.

The American phenom won the 500 and 1,500 meters Saturday and flirted with a world record for the second time in his first three races. Stolz’s time of 1:40.48 in the 1,500 meters was just 0.31 seconds off the record set in 2019 by Kjeld Nuis of the Netherlands, who he was paired with for the race.

‘I think I can still make a lot of improvements, so that’s good,’ said Stolz, who is now 3-for-3 in this season-opening World Cup, with two more races Sunday. ‘I have a lead right now and I think that lead can get bigger. But I also expect them to get better, too. So it’s kind of a toss up.

‘But I’m happy with where it’s at.’

Erin Jackson also made the podium, finishing second in the first 500-meter race. Brittany Bowe had the lead in the 1,500 meters until the last lap before finishing sixth.

‘It’s a really good feeling going into the rest of the season. Mainly, I feel really good about the way my back feels,’ said Jackson, who has struggled with back issues since winning gold in the 500 meters at the Beijing Olympics.

‘The (time trial) last week was my first race where I didn’t have to worry about my back in three years,’ Jackson said. ‘It was an amazing feeling, so I’m really, really excited.’

That Stolz has three wins in his first three races so far isn’t a surprise. He won all three distances at the world championships in both 2023 and 2024, and was the overall winner in the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 meters last season.

He also swept all his races at five of the last seven World Cups, going back to the 2023-24 season.

Stolz will be favored to win gold at all three distances at the Milano Cortina Olympics. Should he do that, he would join Eric Heiden as the only Americans to win three or more gold medals at a single Winter Games. Heiden famously won all five of his races at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid.

Stolz also would be the first male speed skater to win three or more medals at a single games since Heiden.

But while Stolz doesn’t get caught up in the expectations on him, he does recognize he is now the skater everyone wants to beat.

Stolz had thought a world record in the 1,500 might be possible. But he’s not in peak shape yet and he’d won the 500 about an hour earlier, and he found himself trailing Nuis heading into the final lap.

‘When he was a little bit ahead of me going to the last lap, it was a little bit of a worry,’ Stolz said.

Stolz closed with a fury, however. With the crowd roaring as he came down the final straightaway, Stolz shot ahead. He wound up bettering his previous best time by 0.39 seconds.

‘I’m just pushing as hard as I possibly can,’ Stolz said of his close.

And just like in the 1,000 meters, where he just missed matching his own world record, Stolz was closer to the record than his competitors were to him. Ning Zhongyan of China was second, 0.54 seconds behind Stolz, and Germany’s Finn Sonnekalb was third.

In the 500 meters, his first race Saturday, Stolz was paired with Damien Żurek of Poland, who was second to the American in the 1,000 meters Friday night. Żurek kept the race close, but Stolz edged him at the finish line.

His time of 33.88 was just 0.02 seconds ahead of Żurek. Gao Tingyu of China was third at 33.93 seconds.

‘I was training leading up to this competition, so it’s not like I was super prepared,’ Stolz said. ‘So I’m really happy with the results I did, being the condition that I’m in right now.’