{"id":567948,"date":"2026-01-29T06:16:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:16:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/567948\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T06:16:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:16:12","slug":"lebron-james-tears-up-during-emotional-cleveland-homecoming-but-lakers-go-down-in-big-loss-to-cavaliers-dyson-daniels-latest-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/567948\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James tears up during emotional Cleveland homecoming, but Lakers go down in big loss to Cavaliers, Dyson Daniels latest news"},"content":{"rendered":"

LeBron James got emotional during his trip back to Cleveland as he watched highlights from his 25-point Eastern Conference Finals Game 5 performance from 2007. <\/p>\n

The heartfelt moment occurred during a stoppage in play during the first quarter of the Lakers\u2019 129-99 loss to the Cavaliers at Rocket Arena, spoiling what might be the final Cleveland game for the 41-year-old superstar.<\/p>\n

James, a four-time NBA champion and four-time NBA Most Valuable Player, teared up as the clip played and fans gave him a standing ovation, attempting to wipe his face with his Lakers jersey before grabbing a towel from underneath the bench to try and presumably dry the tears from his eyes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Watch NBA with ESPN on Kayo Sports | Stream an average 9 LIVE Regular Season games per week plus the best of the NBA Playoffs.| New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

According to the Associated Press, it was the first time the Cavs had honoured the four-time MVP by playing the highlights from that game, usually putting clips on the video board of his Game 7 effort in the 2016 NBA Finals when Cleveland won it all over the Warriors.<\/p>\n

James, from nearby Akron, was cheered by a sellout crowd when introduced in the starting line-up, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are certainly always emotions for him coming back here,\u201d Lakers coach JJ Redick said. \u201cDuring the tribute video you could see being back here is very important to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a human element to all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The emotional moment came on the same night James \u2014 who finished the night with 11 points and five assists \u2014 reached 60,000 career regular-season minutes, becoming the first player to do so in NBA history.<\/p>\n

James spent 11 of his 23 years in the NBA with the Cavaliers over two stints. He eventually left Cleveland for the second time in 2018 via free agency to go to Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Questions have continued this season about what James\u2019 future holds for him in LA and in the NBA, considering he has not committed to play beyond this season \u2014 his record 23rd in the league.<\/p>\n

ESPN reported the Cavaliers \u201cwould gladly welcome\u201d the NBA superstar back this summer if he wanted one more go in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell seemed intrigued by the idea when speaking to the <\/a>California Post<\/a> ahead of the Cleveland-Lakers game, but he ultimately said that wasn\u2019t something he had control over.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James drives around Cleveland Cavaliers’ Nae’qwan Tomlin. Picture: AP Photo\/Sue OgrockiSource: AP<\/p>\n

\u201cThat ain\u2019t up to me,\u201d Mitchell told The California Post. \u201cThat ain\u2019t up to me. I\u2019m focused on these guys in the locker room. And from that point, everything else kinda goes where it does. But that ain\u2019t me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m focused on what we got here and I\u2019m excited for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 This article initially appeared on the New York Post<\/a> and was republished with permission.<\/p>\n

Mitchell, who scored 25 points in the Cleveland Cavaliers\u2019 big win over the Los Angeles Lakers, understood that even with the Cavaliers winning their fifth consecutive game and improving to 29-20, this night belonged to James and his legacy of making Cleveland a champion after 52 years of failure in major US sports leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has laid the foundation,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cHe has done a lot for the city being from here. We want to replicate that.<\/p>\n

Giannis Wants OUT! Bucks trade talks | 01:24<\/p>\n

\u201cHe deserves the energy he has got here. First time they have done it in 50-some years. We\u2019re trying to do it differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019re trying to find ways to go out there and bring the city another championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jaylon Tyson added 20 points for the Cavs and De\u2019Andre Hunter scored 19 off the Cleveland bench while Luka Doncic had a game-high 29 points for the Lakers (28-18), who also had eight points from Bronny James, LeBron\u2019s son.<\/p>\n

The Cavs outscored the Lakers 42-22 in the third quarter for a 99-77 lead, hitting 7-of-11 shots from three-point range and 17-of-25 overall in the period.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got outplayed. I got out-coached,\u201d Redick said. \u201cWe just didn\u2019t look like we had all our juice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doncic’s fresh slice of history | 03:00<\/p>\n

In other games, Pascal Siakam scored 20 points to lead host Indiana over Chicago 113-110 while Brandon Miller\u2019s 26 points led Charlotte in a 112-97 triumph at Memphis.<\/p>\n

Paolo Banchero delivered 31 points and 12 rebounds for Orlando in a 133-124 victory at Miami.<\/p>\n

Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 21 points and Jalen Johnson added 19 points and 14 rebounds for Atlanta in a 117-106 triumph at Boston. Aussie star Dyson Daniels had another impressive all-round game, finishing with 15 points at 64 per cent from the field, as well as nine assistants, six rebounds and five steals.<\/p>\n

New York\u2019s Mikal Bridges scored 30 points, OG Anunoby added 26 points and Karl-Anthony Towns grabbed 22 rebounds in a 119-92 victory at Toronto, snapping the Raptors\u2019 four-game win streak.<\/p>\n

\u2014 with AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James got emotional during his trip back to Cleveland as he watched highlights from his 25-point Eastern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567949,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[17720,1736,2097,77170,77163,7,970,12502,160,4821,305,193,864,77169,133,420,77165,77168,77164,77161,77166,2990,77167,2286,185,1818,251,150,295,47078,6,11,1136,1729,1734,1740,16,310,10392,77162,77160,4780,680,61776,1730,23567],"class_list":["post-567948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba-playoffs","tag-akron","tag-america","tag-associated-press","tag-australian-dyson-daniels","tag-back-tears","tag-basketball","tag-brandon-miller","tag-bucks-trade","tag-california","tag-canada","tag-cleveland","tag-cleveland-cavaliers","tag-donovan-mitchell","tag-double-digit-loss","tag-espn-inc","tag-florida","tag-four-game-win-streak","tag-heartfelt-moment","tag-hostilities-spill","tag-human-element","tag-impressive-all-round-game","tag-jalen-johnson","tag-james-drives","tag-jaylon-tyson","tag-lebron-james","tag-locker-room","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-miami","tag-naeqwan","tag-nba","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-post-company","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-ohio","tag-oklahoma","tag-ontario","tag-sellout-crowd","tag-special-in-game","tag-sports-leagues","tag-toronto","tag-tribute-video","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-video-board"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}