LeBron James may be the oldest player in the NBA, but he remains a student of the game. Regardless of how much the league changes, he has always found a way to adapt to its ever-evolving landscape. This is precisely why LeBron made sure to keep an eye on Luka Doncic for reasons outside of the basketball court.
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Back in 2020, LeBron made an infamous appearance on former teammate Richard Jefferson’s Road Trippin’ Show. He went in-depth over a slew of topics. Among them was an overlooked discussion about Doncic.
At the time of this podcast episode, Doncic was fresh off a historic sophomore campaign where he averaged 28.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game. For his efforts, the then Dallas Mavericks star had earned All-NBA First Team honors while finishing fourth in MVP voting.
Doncic’s dominance had taken the NBA by surprise. But LeBron had sort of seen it coming.
“Luka is one of my favorite players in the NBA today,” James said. “From the simple fact of the way I play the game is exactly how I love the way he plays the game.”
Both LeBron and Doncic are both elite offensive hubs who bring out the best in their teammates. As a result, it’s impossible to box them into one way of playing.
Rehardless, LeBron became heavily invested in Doncic’s career, even to the point he wanted to affiliate with the young star in business.
“When Luka was going through his contract negotiations with Nike, you saw him at one point wearing Jordans. He was wearing other brands on his feet during practices. I wanted Luka to be the first signee of Team LeBron,” James proclaimed.
The Los Angeles Lakers star urged his team to be aggressive in their pursuit of Doncic. Unfortunately, LeBron believes his team didn’t understand what it took to land Doncic.
“I don’t believe that my guys at Nike was ready for that,” James said.
Fortunately, Doncic is still under the Nike umbrella now that he is with Jordan Brand. However, that doesn’t change the fact that LeBron wanted to say dibs on the young Slovenian guard. “I feel like it’s going to haunt me,” LeBron revealed.
It’s funny how life works. The par of them now form one of the most polarizing duos in the NBA, and just yesterday put on 65 points together against the Memphis Grizzlies to bring the Lakers back on track. LeBron currently doesn’t have a contract with the Lakers beyond this season. So as far as fans are concerned, this is probably the last time, they get to see the two mavericks work together.
