LeBron James has played down the significance of the Lakers’ opening night defeat to Los Angeles rivals the Clippers and says he was thrilled to be back on the court after a long lay-off.

With the scores tied going into the fourth quarter, the Clippers eventually sealed a 112-102 victory with summer recruit Kawhi Leonard enjoying a remarkable debut, scoring 30 points.

Much was made of the LA rivalry going into Tuesday night’s match, but James feels it has been blown out of proportion and says this Lakers side are still in their infancy.

‘I disagree on how big of a test it was. It’s the first game,’ LeBron told reporters in the locker room after the game, having been just one rebound and two assists away from a triple-double.

‘Obviously the NBA is back, and everyone is trying to have the narrative of a rivalry game and it was a huge test. I think both teams are not where they want to be.

‘We have a lot of room to improve, we’re a new group that’s coming together, we have a new coaching staff, we have a new system. It’s not a rivalry. We’re trying to get better every single day on how we can be as great as we can be.

‘We did some good things tonight, we did some not so good things and that happens in game one, especially in a new club. So we look forward to getting in the film room tomorrow and seeing some of the mistakes we made that we could have been better at.’

On any perceived defensive issues against the Clippers, he added bluntly: ‘I don’t think they’re issues. You don’t have issues after one game.’

James suffered a groin injury against the Golden State Warriors back in December and says he is only now back at 100% fitness, and was delighted to be back on court despite the defeat.

On how it feels to be back, he continued: ‘Ecstatic. I was so excited to get back on the floor. Obviously a little rusty as far as my perimeter shooting and just not being in a game situation in a while.

‘I haven’t played that many minutes in quite a while. Just to be able to go out there and fly around once again and jump high and be at 100%, it’s something I worked my tail off after the groin injury in December, just trying to get back to who I am, so it was great to get back out there.’

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