The Los Angeles Lakers should have the NBA’s attention as they dispatched the No. 2 seeded Memphis Grizzlies to advance to the second round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs.
The Lakers are clearly not the same team that started out the 2022-23 season 2-10 as they’ve got a much more talented and deeper roster since the trade deadline. Players like Austin Reaves credit the team’s togetherness for their success so far, though they’ll be tested in the next series against the Golden State Warriors.
James is well aware of what’s at stake in the next round and Reaves revealed what the superstar said to him after Game 6 against the Grizzlies.
“It’s always good to win and win the series, but the job is not finished,” Reaves said of James’ message. “We have another series coming up against either Sacramento or the Warriors. We’ll enjoy this one tonight and then tomorrow and the next days when we figure out who we play, we’ll lock in on whoever that is and go compete to win another series. Like I said, obviously this is my first time in the playoffs and every step gets harder as you would expect. So it’s not really too much time spending enjoying this. Enjoy it, but there’s still more work to do.”
The King continues to defy expectations this late into his career, but his age hasn’t led Reaves to believe he’s gotten any older from a personality perspective.
“No, he honestly seems about 18. He acts like he’s 18,” Reaves joked. “He’s very childish in a great way, so no, but at the same time, I grew up watching the gamer of basketball. So seeing him play for as long as he’s played, some days I sit back and just moreso when I go home and family members and friends really like bring it to my attention that I’m on a team with him is really when I sit back and think about how crazy it is how long he’s been doing this and how youthful he is at the same time.”
There’s almost no precedent for someone to be this good this late in their career, but James has proven he is far from the norm. If the Lakers are going to make a serious title run this year, they’ll need James to turn back the clock one more time to carry them there.
LeBron James has utmost respect for Stephen Curry
James and the Warriors have a long history dating back to their Finals run-ins during the 2010s. At the forefront of this series are James and Curry, two of the most innovative and iconic players of the past couple of decades. Ahead of their highly-anticipated matchup, James said he had the utmost respect for Curry and the work he’s put in throughout his career.
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