Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James continues to defy Father Time despite being in Year 23. James is in the midst of another strong season during the 2025-26 season, giving the Lakers an outside shot of competing in the playoffs.
At 41 years old, what James has been able to do is truly astonishing and a testament to how well he takes care of himself physically.
For example, because LeBron was unable to begin the 2025-26 season he had to find a way to stave off any weight gain. James is an avid wine drinker and loves his sweets, but he detailed how he was able to give up both to get himself ready on the latest episode of the “Mind the Game” podcast with Steve Nash:
“It’s true story to when I stopped drinking. So I wasn’t playing obviously as the season started, so I needed to give up something. I gotta sacrifice something and I actually did two things that I very love and that is drinking wine and my chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I completely took it out. So I was like, OK I wasn’t playing…well-documented I missed the first 14 games of the season, wasn’t playing in November, missed all of training camp, everything so I was like, alright I gotta take something out. I gotta sacrifice something, and for the whole month of November like I’mma do no desserts and no wine, no liquor, no nothing for the whole month of November and I did that. And I actually went all the way…once I got to December I was like, oh I kept coming. And I didn’t have my first drink and my first piece of dessert until New Year’s Day, so I ended up going basically two months. The chocolate chip cookie part with the ice cream was probably the hardest for me. Well, the wine, too, cause me not playing and being a little stressed I maybe wanted a glass here, a glass there but it was good to give my body a break and also to know that…you like to challenge yourself, we all like to challenge ourselves. I love the challenge.”
James also admitted that he stopped consuming both products because of the health benefits and the challenge that comes along with it:
“A little bit of both. Like I want to focus on challenge yourself cause that’s two things that I love. It’s two of my vices, but to be able to know that you can tap into that. And also, I was starting to round myself back into shape and doing things that I couldn’t throughout the summer because of the back issue and things of that nature, so wanted to kind of give myself the best opportunity to get back to doing the things that I need to do on the floor.”
LeBron continues to show the league what sets him apart and with his mindset he can arguably play as long as he wants to.
Lakers would welcome LeBron James back for 24th season
LeBron James remains non-committal about his playing future despite the season quickly hitting its sprint. While he has yet to confirm what he plans to do, the Lakers would reportedly welcome him back for a 24th NBA season.
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