LOS ANGELES — LeBron James said his brief stint with NBA health and safety protocols left him feeling “confused,” “frustrated” and “angry” after returning for his first game in the Lakers’ 119-115 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday. night.

James missed the Lakers game against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday after he tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday morning that required him to isolate from his team and return to Los Angeles alone on a plane chartered by the team.

“I knew I was going to get acquitted because I never felt sick at all,” James said after he finished the game with 23 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals against the Clippers. “I just thought it was handled so badly.”

James said he first tested negative on Tuesday and then tested positive on a follow-up test. The league has reintroduced more rigorous testing for its teams after Thanksgiving, hoping to discover any instances that may have arisen from players expanding their circles around family and friends for the holiday.

“Usually when you have a positive test, they will test you right away to be sure,” James said. “There was no follow-up test after my positive test. You were immediately isolated and put into protocol. That’s the part that pissed me off. I had to figure out a way to get home from Sacramento by myself, they didn’t let anyone travel with me, there’s no security, no Anything, when I got back from Sacramento.

“Then I had to isolate my kids right now, the people in my house are in isolation right now, so it was just a huge inconvenience. That was the anger part.”

James was allowed back into the squad on Thursday afternoon after a second negative PCR test within a 24-hour window. James returned eight negative tests in total from the time he returned to Los Angeles until he was acquitted Thursday, sources told ESPN.

Much like how the league did not require its players to receive a COVID-19 vaccine but impose stricter testing and social distancing rules for those who haven’t been vaccinated than for those who have been, the NBA will implement a similar implementation later this month. It comes to enhanced footage of COVID-19, The Athletic reported Friday.

James gave a crooked answer when asked if he had received a booster shot and if the process he had been through over the past several days affected his thinking about getting the booster shot if he hadn’t yet.

“No, that process…we were all doing exactly what the protocols told us to do and running tests and things like that,” he said. “It’s so unfortunate that you get a false positive and are put in isolation. That’s just the unfortunate part. But we’ll see what happens.”

Meanwhile, the Lakers saw their slender two-game winning streak cut short against a Clippers who came on the night after losing six of their previous eight games.

James, who said he didn’t pick up a basketball from the time the Los Angeles game against the Detroit Pistons ended on Sunday until Friday’s shooting, admitted that his cadence was affected by the stop-and-go nature of his season. He played in his first three Lakers games and then missed two games due to an ankle injury. He then played in the Lakers’ next three games after that, then missed the next eight games due to abdominal strain. He then played two matches before missing a match due to the first suspension of his 19-year career. He then played three matches before missing the Kings match.

“Going to Sacramento, I was working on a rhythm — a really, really good rhythm — like offense and defense,” James said. “It was so frustrating either dealing with the thigh or the belly, and then having to deal with the false positive that knocked me out of the match and then knocked me off the ground and I couldn’t keep my rhythm. It just… has been a challenging year to start a quarter. The season myself. But only good things are in the future.”

Friday’s loss saw the Lakers drop to 12-12, seventh in the Western Conference, with their next game on Tuesday against the Boston Celtics that beat Los Angeles soundly at TD Garden on November 19.

“It’s only hard when you’re in and out of the squad, especially when you don’t have, I think, a reason to get out,” said Anthony Davis, looking at James’ saga. “We were playing well. So it’s a little frustrating, but nobody feels sorry for us. We don’t feel sorry for ourselves. We had to go out there and play basketball games with whoever was available.”