This has been a summer of firsts for Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. For the first time in his career, he will be playing on an expiring contract as he decided to pick up his player option for the 2025-26 season and did not negotiate a new deal with the Lakers.
Additionally, James also picked up a new hobby as he has been playing golf for the first time in his life and as has been the case with a lot of other people, he quickly became obsessed with the sport. Golf is a game that people tend to pick up when they are retired from working, so the transition was natural for LeBron this offseason as he nears the end of his playing career at age 40.
James hasn’t only been playing golf, but he has also been watching it as he recently gave world’s No. 1 Scottie Scheffler a shoutout after his win on the PGA Tour.
The final PGA Tour event of the season took place this past weekend with the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Course in Atlanta. While that event is not a major tournament, it is the most lucrative of the season with a $40 million purse and the winner taking home $10 million.
The winner of that event was Tommy Fleetwood, who earned his first victory on the PGA Tour in 164 opportunities. That type of struggle is something James can relate to, so he took to social media to give Fleetwood a shoutout after his big win:
Congrats and 🫡 @TommyFleetwood1!!! That first one feeling is something else! Especially after dealing with adversity and shortcomings. Too 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🏆
— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 24, 2025
LeBron was also rooting for Fleetwood throughout the tournament in what ended up being a dominant victory:
What a start so far by Fleetwood! Feels like to day is the day
— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 24, 2025
Up 3 with 2 to play for all the marbles
— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 24, 2025
Fleetwood’s story is a great one as despite coming up short numerous times, he never got down on himself and kept grinding to earn the biggest victory of them all.
Despite being a prodigy from a young age, James had a similar struggle as Fleetwood early in his career as it took him almost a decade to win his first NBA Championship. Now that Fleetwood has gotten the proverbial monkey off his back though, it will be interesting to see if he can rack up more wins next season and beyond.
Stephen Curry credits LeBron James for golf improvements
As previously mentioned, LeBron James did not pick up golf until this offseason, so naturally it took him some time to get the hang of it. He is already showing improvement with his swing though, which Stephen Curry credited him for as the two superstars look to get out on the course together at some point.
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