What Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James is continuing to do at this stage of his career is unprecedented. In the last couple of games alone, James has shown what hard work and dedication can help him accomplish in his 21st season.
On Wednesday night against the L.A. Clippers, James led the biggest fourth quarter comeback of his career, scoring 19 points in the final quarter alone to bring his team back from down 21.
After that performance, it was reasonable to expect James to take the next night off when the Lakers hosted the Washington Wizards in the second night of a back-to-back. That wasn’t the case though as not only did LeBron play, but he led another comeback victory, scoring 31 points and playing 39 minutes with the game going to overtime.
One person who has gotten an up close look at what James is capable of is Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma, who was teammates with LeBron for three seasons on the Lakers.
With James continuing to play at such a high level, Kuzma isn’t surprising considering he knows how hard the 39-year-old works.
“That’s what happens when he just keeps the main thing the main thing. He has his whole life, everybody sees the glitz and glamours, the commercials and everything else that comes with being LeBron James, but he keeps basketball and his work ethic and his body as priority No. 1 at all times,” Kuzma said.
“I think it’s just a good lesson for everybody, every young player in this league watching a player like that. I know I had a front row seat for a few years and he’s earned and deserves everything that has really come his way because he goes about it the right way.”
Being an NBA player isn’t easy, especially when you’ve been in the league for 21 seasons. After getting a chance to watch James up close during their time together, Kuzma was impressed with him being able to maintain his routine every single day.
“Just consistency and the discipline to do it every day. It’s tough. It sucks to do this every day. We’re all human,” Kuzma admitted. “But you get better and you keep going by the days that you don’t want to go. And I’m sure he has bad days too, but that doesn’t stop him from putting in work and making sure his mental is right and empowering and lifting up his teammates.”
Kuzma is right that James serves as an phenomenal example for the young players in the league. If James can continue to work as hard as he does, then there’s no excuse for young guys to not do the same.
LeBron James discusses what reaching 40,000 points will mean to him
The next milestone upcoming for LeBron James is 40,000 points as he currently is just nine away. After the win over the Wizards, James talked about what it will mean to him to be the first player ever to reach that milestone.
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