LeBron James likes what the new-look Los Angeles Lakers have "brewing" following some shrewd business before last week's trade deadline.

Five players made their home debuts for the Lakers in a 120-102 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday.

D'Angelo Russell, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt were all in the starting line-up as the rebuilding Lakers moved to 27-32, sitting 13th in the Western Conference.

James made his return from injury after seeing Russell Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones, Patrick Beverley and Thomas Bryant move on.

The Lakers superstar, who scored 21 points after recovering from foot soreness, feels there is a nice blend to the roster after so many changes.

He said: "I think we're going to continue to build off tonight," said James. "I think our skill sets all kind of fit each other."

James expressed his gratitude to the contribution the players who departed made but is happy with the new faces that have arrived.

"First of all, I shout out and salute the guys that left," James said. "Russ, Pat, JTA, DJ and Thomas. Those five guys. We all started the season together and tried to work to make some things happen and be the best that we could be out on the floor.

"So I salute those guys and their commitment to us trying to be as good as we could be on the floor. And right now, I mean, I like the guys that we have coming in. It's going to take some time for us to get to know one another, but I know that they play the game at a high level."

James added heading into the All-Star break: "We got a lot of work to do still. And every game is going to be tough for us, especially going down the stretch, knowing the type of push that we need to make.

"I want the guys to enjoy the break but don't get 100 per cent detached because we want to come back and try to keep this thing going.

"I feel really good about what we have brewing, but it's going to take a lot of commitment from us going down the stretch so I'm looking forward to that."