The Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs 123–118 on Friday night, despite Victor Wembanyama’s historic “5×5” scoring showing. LeBron James scored 30 points, passed the ball nine times, and grabbed seven boards. It was the Lakers’ seventh win in nine games.

In his first trip game, against the Lakers, Wembanyama scored 27 points, grabbed 10 boards, and passed the ball eight times. He also stopped five shots and stole five balls, making him the youngest player in NBA history and only the 15th player in NBA history to have at least five points, five rebounds, five assists, five blocks, and five steals in the same game.

James said of Wembanyama, “He doesn’t have a ceiling.” “He’s free to choose what he wants to do with his job.” He looks like he likes the game. To someone on the outside, it looks like he puts in the work. It’s that simple: I told you a long time ago how special he was.

Wembanyama was one assist away from a 5×5 game in Sacramento on Thursday night. He made it the next night in Los Angeles in just 30 minutes and 55 seconds of play, which is the shortest amount of time ever used in a 5×5 game in league history.

Along with Michael Jordan, Wembanyama is the only player to have at least five steals and five blocks in a row.

The player said, “I wonder if (Jordan) did it in wins instead of losses.” “It’s not important to me. We might be able to look back on this as a good effort in the future, but I can’t be happy with a loss right now.

Wembanyama had a great first quarter with 16 points, but Anthony Davis answered his fellow No. 1 pick’s challenge with great play in the next two quarters, which helped the Lakers keep their lead.

Davis scored 28 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the first game of a back-to-back set. He then missed the whole fourth quarter of the second game. In his place, Jaxson Hayes played well against Wembanyama, and James led the Lakers to their 12th win in 18 games.

According to Lakers coach Darvin Ham, James had some good stretches and some tough stretches. But when the team needed him to make plays or shots, he stepped up and did it. When the All-Star break is over, things get a little crazy. The guys are still trying to get back to where they were before, but I thought James played well.

In the last 3 1/2 minutes, San Antonio scored 17 goals in a row to cut the overall score by a large amount.

On his 28th birthday, D’Angelo Russell scored 22 points and had six assists. Rui Hachimura added 17 points for the Lakers, who have been on a tear lately but still sit in ninth place in the Western Conference standings. When the Lakers came back from the All-Star break, they lost to Golden State on Thursday.

James came back strong after missing the last two Lakers games to rest his sore ankle. In that time, he played in the All-Star Game.

James said, “I can’t tell you how we’re going to be every single day.” It’s just work that we have to deal with. When it comes to defense, we play the game the right way. To attack, we keep passing the ball around. We can win every night if we protect, get back in the game after a quick break, and clean the glass when teams miss.

For Wembanyama, it was his first time playing in front of the Lakers’ wall of title banners. He got off to a great start, scoring 13 points, grabbing three boards, and drawing two fouls from Davis in the first six minutes of the game. At the break, he had 20 points, but after the break, he only made 2 of 6 shots.

The Spurs have lost 10 of their last 11 games and three in a row. Malaki Branham scored 17 points and Jeremy Sochan had 15 points and 13 boards. They have lost all six of their yearly Rodeo Road Trip games.

Since the last time these two teams played in December, San Antonio has won 18 straight games, which is a club record.