Four-time NBA MVP LeBron James says launching a podcast will allow him to teach young people about “the true essence of how I fell in love with the game” as a reaction to his disenchantment with national television coverage of basketball.
James described himself as “exhausted” after helping the Lakers win 150-145 at home to the Indiana Pacers, matching a questionable defensive display with their highest score in 37 years.
One of the ways the 39-year-old plans to relax away from the court is with his new ‘Mind the Game’ show, launched alongside a former player who James feels is a kindred spirit, JJ Redick.
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“I feel like we’ve been losing the essence of the true game of basketball, teaching the youth what it truly, really means,” said James. “I was getting very frustrated with the daily comparisons every single day: ‘who’s better?’, ‘how does it affect your legacy?’ or ‘if this guy played in the 50s, or if this guy from the 50s played in the 2000s’.
“It’s not good for the youth. If you want to hear that, you want to go to the barber shops. You’re hearing it every day on national television and I feel like our audience needed a different approach and the true essence of how I fell in love with the game. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for quite a while.”
I asked LeBron about what sparked the idea to launch the “Mind The Game” podcast this week and why he partnered with J.J. Redick: pic.twitter.com/lrp4aPeUp5
— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) March 25, 2024
LA Lakers fixtures ‘challenging’
The Lakers are ninth in the Western Conference, requiring a top-six finish to guarantee a play-off place or a position between seventh and 10th to compete for the remaining two berths in the finale.
“It’s been flip-flopping so much over the last few weeks that I’ve kind of stopped looking at it,” James said of the table.
“We want to continue to try to play good basketball. Our league is so hard offensively, with players who can do multiple things.”
Their visit to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday is the first of six on the road in nine days, with James hoping to continue the form with which he contributed 26 points and 10 assists against the Pacers.
“It’s like ‘s***, I need to get home, get some rest and get ready for this road trip’,” said James, acknowledging his team’s defensive frailties.
“It’s a very testing road trip for us. It’s rare in my career that I’ve had an East Coast road trip so late in the season. It’s challenging but we’re looking forward to it.
“We know who we are. We want to defend at a high level, and obviously 145 is not a high level. Offensively we were very sharp. We cleaned it up in the second half. We know how high-powered offensively [the Pacers] are.”
