LeBron James has defied Father Time for years now and proved he could still be effective in the twilight of his career after another strong season with the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2023-24 campaign.
James was named to the All-NBA Third Team and led the Lakers back to the playoffs, though they lost in five games to the Denver Nuggets. While the postseason success hasn’t been there for James, he continues to prove that he still belongs in the conversation as one of the best players in the league.
For the incoming rookies, playing against James must be an exciting proposition considering they grew up watching him during his peak. There are even some players like the Utah Jazz’s Cody Williams who weren’t even born when James debuted back in 2003.
Williams was a highly-touted prospect in the 2024 NBA Draft and should see run early on in his career, though he’s one of the rookies that isn’t afraid to go up against James, via Ryan Morik of Fox Sports:
“I’m in the NBA for a reason. He still has to guard me, too,” Williams said in a recent interview with Fox News Digital.
Williams added that while he’ll respect James as a player he’ll still try to go at him like he would any other player:
“But also, I’m in the NBA. I was drafted at 10 for a reason,” he said. “I’m not going to be starstruck at all; going to obviously respect him but going to go at him and let him know I’m supposed to be there, too.”
Williams has every right to be confident in his ability to hang with the best of the best considering his draft capital and talent, and he’ll surely have his moments once he sees James on the floor. The competitive spirit from Williams is something that James will appreciate given his love for testing himself against his peers.
While Williams and Utah are ways away from competing for an NBA championship, James is looking like he has at least one more run in him. Austin Reaves believes the Lakers have a shot given the way James has looked during Olympic play, and it’ll be interesting to see if he carries the momentum into next season.
Lakers’ LeBron James included in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s perfect player
When building out the perfect player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander picked two Lakers. First, he picked Kobe Bryant for his scoring ability and then had LeBron James for his athleticism.
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