LOS ANGELES — Even as LeBron James continues to deal with the backlash over what he said about Daryl Morey earlier this week, there are also basketball questions facing him as he enters his second season with the Lakers.



LeBron knows after all that went wrong for him on the Lakers last year, with the career-worst injury and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2005, people are wondering if he is finally, after 16 seasons, in decline.



“I know what I’m capable of, I know what I can still do in this game, even at this stage of my career,” LeBron told The Athletic. “When the dust settles, and it will, we’ll see.”



LeBron played a warmup basketball game Wednesday, his first since blasting the Rockets general manager for a tweet supporting protests in Hong Kong that put the NBA, its players, and their financial interests at odds with China and then being criticized for that himself.



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