Current Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has been under the spotlight since he was a teenager and is going on almost two decades as the face of the NBA.
While there are a lot of great things that come with that, there also are some understandable challenges. James has been under a microscope that few athletes have been under for the entirety of his career and really doesn’t have a single blemish to show for it. Sure, James hasn’t won the championship every year. But he has always been a great teammate, citizen, husband and father, which is rare for an athlete of his stature.
Even though James continues to play at an insanely high level in his 22nd season, there’s no denying that the end is near. And with that, the league is looking for its new face.
Minnesota Timberwolves young star Anthony Edwards is a candidate for that, although he said during NBA All-Star Weekend that is something he’s not interested in and deferred to San Antonio Spurs young star Victor Wembanyama.
After the Lakers’ win over Edwards’ Timberwolves on Thursday night, James was asked about Edwards’ comments and gave his candid thoughts on being the face of the NBA.
“Ant already said he don’t want it. He ain’t trying to deal with that shit,” James said. “I mean, Channing Frye said it the other day, too. Like, I mean, it’s unfortunate, but, like, why do you want to be the face of a league when all the all to put all the people that you know that cover our game and talk about our game on a day to day basis shit on everybody? To have that responsibility, it’s just weird. It’s weird energy. Channing, he said it perfectly. Couldn’t said it no better, but Ant said he don’t want it. I didn’t ask for it, but I knew there was a responsibility for me, not only to my family, my friends, my community and whoever that was going to follow my journey throughout my career, not only in Ohio, but I started there, but all over America and all over world.
“I’ve always taken that seriously and understood from the beginning what being a professional was all about and being a role model is all about. So try to hold that with the utmost respect and honor, but I feel Ant. I understand, I completely understand this weird energy when it comes to this.”
A huge topic in the NBA currently is how the game is covered and not celebrating today’s players enough to help grow the game.
James understands this better than anyone as his every move has been scrutinized since he was in high school. It doesn’t seem like the media landscape is gonna change anytime soon though, which puts the league in a tough spot when the current faces like James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are no longer around.
The NBA has a lot of talented young stars, but no one has quite elevated themselves to the point where they can be considered the next face of the league.
JJ Redick believes LeBron James has been playing at All-NBA Defense level
What LeBron James is doing for the Lakers at the age of 40 is nothing short of amazing. In recent weeks, he’s been getting it done on both ends of the floor and Lakers head coach JJ Redick wanted to give him a shoutout for his defense, in particular.
“Again, he defies what’s normal… And again, this is not an exaggeration,” Redick said after the Lakers’ victory over the Dallas Mavericks in which they held their fourth straight opponent to 102 points or less. “If you watch our basketball team every night, and you’ve watched our team now for the last six weeks or so, LeBron is playing at an All-NBA defense level.
“He is, and now, people may have perceptions of what he is as a defender; I watch it every night. He doesn’t get scored on in isolation if teams do try to target him. He blows plays up. He’s always in the right position, shifting, recovering. I think there was this perception of him at this age, like conserving energy. No, there’s no conservation of energy on that end of the floor. He’s played elite defense now for a while.”
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