LeBron James took to his podcast to speak on how he used to boldly play outdoors during the summer for several years. It’s something that several young players still do to stay in shape over the summer. But in his older age, he’s doing it less by the year. Mostly because of the wear and tear and injury risk that it poses.
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Many NBA stars play pickup basketball during the offseason to stay in basketball shape. Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, and Jrue Holiday have all been spotted on the blacktop in previous summers. Although participation varies. Some guys like to constantly play while others simply work on conditioning and recovery. Players also work out to stay in shape and minimize injury risk. This all keeps them prepared for training camp.
However, LeBron discarded the notion of resting and conditioning for the first 15 years of his career. He not only played pick-up basketball during the summer, but he also played outdoors. LeBron expanded on this on his Mind the Game podcast.
“Probably my first 12, 14 years, I played all through the summer. I just loved to hoop,” LeBron told Steve Nash. “I used to play outdoors. Like I played outdoor basketball as a pro. I had no idea how bad that was for me, but I was like, ‘I f*cking love ball.’”
Playing basketball outdoors is pretty bad on the knees for anyone, especially pros. The fan aspect of playing against LeBron James must have been distracting to his opponents as well. But it’s commendable that he did play pick-up so much before eventually pivoting these past 7 years.
He did go on to admit that he got “very smart” about the situation and simply built himself an outdoor, blacktop court in his backyard for all of his friends to hoop on. “I would have teammates come over. You know, best friends, and we had runs in the backyard,” said Bron.
LeBron’s Recovery
At this point in his career, LeBron has a full weekly regimen for recovering. That’s why you would never catch him playing pick-up anymore. It would simply be too much on his body and interrupt his weekly schedule, which is tailored around preparing his body to play in NBA games.
LeBron went in-depth on his recovery process during the podcast as well.
“When I’m super locked in, I’m in the gym Monday through Friday,” LeBron said. “Saturday is a recovery day where I do absolutely nothing. Sunday is more of a now we start to get the body work done. Get the mind ready for the long week again. I try to on Saturday just get away from it, in the summertime.”
It sounds like a lot that LeBron has to worry about. But it’s what made him the player he is today, and shows how much extra work goes into being an NBA great behind the scenes. LeBron is now 40 years old and has shown no signs of slowing down with his play in recent seasons. He’s aged like the drink he has on each of his podcasts, a fine glass of wine.
