LeBron James suffered the worst defeat of his career as the Los Angeles Lakers went down 136-94 to the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday night.
The 42-point margin of victory exceeded the pair of 36-point losses suffered by one of James’ teams previously.
Bojan Bogdanovic scored 24 points and the Pacers tied an NBA franchise record by making 19 3-pointers during the rout.
A picture of James sat several seats apart from his Lakers team-mates after leaving the court did the rounds on social media.
Myles Turner had 22 points and Thaddeus Young finished with 12 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists to help the Pacers pick up their third consecutive victory.
James had 18 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in his second game back since injuring his groin on Christmas Day. He didn’t play in the fourth quarter.
JaVale McGee had 16 points for the Lakers, who have lost two straight and six of their last eight. This time, the Lakers never had a chance.
Bogdanovic barely needed two minutes to reach double figures as he staked the Pacers to a 10-2 lead, a deficit from which Los Angeles never recovered.
After the Lakers closed to 12-8, Indiana scored five straight, extended the lead to 28-21 and used a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Edmond Sumner to make it 33-26 after one quarter.
Aaron Holiday’s 3-pointer early in the second quarter gave Indiana a 42-28 lead. And when Los Angeles finally cut the deficit to 44-34, the Pacers answered with a 14-4 run.
They led 69-43 at the half, extended the lead to 83-53 on Tyreke Evans’ 3 with 7:31 left in the third quarter and the Lakers never got closer than 25 again.
