Lakers superstar LeBron James has been ruling the league for 19 seasons, and the reason behind it is quite simple
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The NBA is a highly competitive league. Getting in is hard, but staying at the top of your game while in the league is a different level of difficulty. However, one guy has been doing it for 19 years and is about to do it again in his 20th year. You guessed it right, it’s none other than LeBron James.
Ever since he joined the NBA in 2003, LBJ has been one of the best players in the league. The King has been doing it consistently for 19 seasons and has set multiple ‘youngest ever to’ records. He is now setting ‘oldest to’ records as well!
In his 19th season, the King averaged 30 points, eight rebounds, and six assists. The next highest scoring average for a player in their 19th season was Kobe Bryant, averaging 22.3 points while playing 21 games less.
LeBron James needs sleep to remain great, whereas Michael Jordan needed none
Despite the Lakers struggling in the 2021-22 season, LBJ had one of his best seasons. After winning the Western Conference Player of the Week, LeBron was asked the reason behind his continued greatness.
The King credited watching Bronny play while iterating on “REM sleep.” The King has always mentioned how he tried to get at least 10-12 hours of sleep regularly. His teammates have often joked about how LBJ is either playing basketball or sleeping.
Giving your body the proper time to rest after long, strenuous workout sessions makes a lot of sense. This is probably why LeBron rarely gets injured throughout his career.
On the other hand, Michael Jordan is known to not have adequately slept throughout his playing career. In an interview, his former teammate BJ Armstrong talked about the same,
BJ Armstrong on Michael Jordan: “If he would have slept, we don’t how good he really would have been. We didn’t see the best of Michael Jordan because he didn’t sleep for 14 years literally”. pic.twitter.com/zK0a8cefWU
— mj23_world (@mj23_world) May 2, 2022
While LeBron’s sleeping pattern might be good for the regular fellow, Michael Jordan’s ways are not for ordinary people. His Airness lived life on a different level, and it’s very hard to see people do what he does and still be that great regularly.