LeBron James recently extended his two-decade-long dominance in world basketball with another gold medal win in the 2024 Paris Olympics. On the way to his 3rd Gold, The King added another feather to his cap by securing the tournament’s MVP award.
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Amidst the cause for celebrations, Doc Rivers unexpectedly shared a contrasting view, pointing out an aspect of the 39-year-old’s gameplay that seems to be regressing.
On The Bill Simmons Podcast, the 62-year-old initially showed immense respect toward the impressive longevity of James. Following this, he pointed out that this extended career had led to the Los Angeles Lakers star struggling with a lack of energy in recent games.
However, Rivers immediately downplayed these perceived signs of concern, mentioning,
“I don’t think anyone is gonna have a career maybe in our lifetime like LeBron [James]… Now, guys are playing longer but can they stay healthy? That’s been LeBron’s thing. Not only has he been healthy, he has been healthy and he has not lost a step. Only thing he loses is his energy in games. There’s times when he get tired. But that’s called being 40, playing NBA basketball”.
Rivers’ statement revealed both sides of the story. At the twilight of his career, James struggles to keep pace with the rest of the group on the court, but it is something to be expected. He is nearing 40 after all. Occasionally, this even leads to defensive shortcomings and turnovers.
That said, he frequently compensated for these with his overall performances. Last season, for example, he ranked 13th in the NBA in points per game, averaging 25.7 points. He was also the 5th in assists with 8.3 assists per game and the 32nd-highest rebounder in the league with 7.3 rebounds per game.
During the Olympic campaign, he maintained this consistency while averaging the most minutes per game on the roster (24.3). Leading the nation in assists and rebounds, with 8.5 assists and 6.8 rebounds per game, he was also the second-highest scorer for Team USA, averaging 14.2 points per game.
All these highlighted James’s prowess while adding volume to his reliability. However, sustaining this greatness came at a price that many were reluctant to bear.
Rivers once explained the difficulties of being LeBron’s teammate
During his appearance on the show earlier this year, Rivers discussed James’ demanding nature. He described how the 4x champion expected nothing less than excellence from his teammates, constantly pushing them to their limits.
As a result, the 20x All-Star’s methods resonated with only a select few players, as the Milwaukee Bucks head coach mentioned,
“As good as he is, and he makes people better in some ways and in a lot of ways, but he is also not easy to play with, either… If you got big eyes playing with him, you can’t play with him. When you play with great players, your players need to have rational confidence that they can shoot, or they should be shooting, or they should be aggressive. LeBron puts a lot of pressure on his guys, and rightly so”.
Fortunately, throughout his career, James encountered teammates who were willing to go the distance with him. This undoubtedly helped him surpass the expectations year after year, leaving an unparalleled legacy.
