LeBron James made a surprising decision in the Summer of 2018 when he chose to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency.
James fulfilled his promise of bringing a championship to his hometown of Cleveland in 2016 so it wasn’t a shock to see him move on once again. The surprise was going to a Lakers team that hadn’t made the playoffs in half a decade and didn’t have any other stars.
When the move went down, many people believed the motivation for LeBron was off the court, creating a business and entertainment empire in L.A. and setting himself up for his post-playing career.
Since then though, James has proven all of those doubters wrong as he brought the 17th championship to the Lakers organization in 2022, passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer earlier in 2023 and continues to be one of the best players in the league in his 21st season.
LeBron is coming off his best game of the year on Friday night against the Portland Trail Blazers, scoring 35 points to go along with five rebounds, nine assists and two steals.
After the outstanding performance, James took to Instagram to poke fun at all the people who thought he only came to L.A. to make movies, via Legion Hoops:
LeBron James on IG ? pic.twitter.com/Z5gljWfCL6
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) November 19, 2023
This is a well-deserved victory lap for James considering he is on the verge of turning 39 years old and continues to be one of the best players in the NBA.
LeBron has played in 12 of the Lakers’ first 13 games, averaging 25.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and 6.3 assists while shooting 57.2% from the field and 39.7% from 3-point range.
The Lakers as a team are still finding their way, but having James healthy and playing at a high level will only help their title hopes.
James: Lakers know what’s at stake during In-Season Tournament games
Perhaps the only thing James has left to accomplish in his illustrious career is winning an NBA Cup with the league implementing its first ever In-Season Tournament this season.
James and the Lakers have been at their best so far during the group play of the In-Season Tournament. Not only are the Lakers 3-0, but they also have the best point differential in the league at plus-42. The reason for this, according to LeBron, is that they know what’s at stake in the tournament and want to win it all.
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