LeBron James made 13 trips back to Cleveland during his time in Miami and Los Angeles. 

On Friday night, he made his first as a 76er, and despite the warm welcome home, James left Rocket Arena with the lowest-scoring performance of his career against his former team. 

Before Friday’s game, James averaged 25.9 points per game against Cleveland across his 24-year career. He put up just eight points in last night’s NBA Cup game, shooting 25% from the field. 

James added seven rebounds and three assists to go along with a game-high six turnovers. 

The performance was highly unusual for the Akron native.

Since 2007, James has scored fewer than 10 points only twice. 

The other single-digit game came just last season, as he put up eight points on December 4, 2025, against Toronto. It ended his record run of 1,297 consecutive double-digit-point games during the regular season.

When it comes to games played in Cleveland, James had quite an impressive streak of regular-season games with 10 or more points. 

He entered last night with 396 straight contests in Cleveland with double-digit points scored. When he checked out with 3:54 left in the fourth quarter, that streak was brought all the way back down to zero.

Friday’s performance was somewhat reminiscent of James’ return to Cleveland last season as a Laker, where he scored just 11 points and shot 30% from the field. He committed six turnovers in that contest, too, as the Cavaliers beat the Lakers 129-99. 

James had a better outing earlier this season, though, scoring 17 points with 10 rebounds as the 76ers defeated Cleveland in their season opener, 114-106.

Overall, James still has the upper hand over the Cavaliers, earning a 21-7 record against the team that drafted him in 2003. On Cleveland’s home court, he holds a 9-5 advantage.

Cleveland, however, had the upper hand in their fifth home game of the season, defeating Philadelphia 119-95 to advance to 5-4 on the season.

It is obvious that James still has a lot in the tank and is one of the league's top players, but it is becoming increasingly hard to deny that Father Time is catching up to him.

While James and the 76ers have a day to regroup following the loss, the Cavaliers are right back in the fire as they play host to the New York Knicks on Saturday, Nov. 7, from Rocket Arena at 8:00 p.m. EST.

And if they can hold back the Knicks' superstars just like they did James, a winning streak might be brewing in Cleveland.