Witnessing LeBron
It’s been a little over two weeks since I experienced LeBron James up close and in person, and I’ve finally recovered enough to put my thoughts together. In a word: Wow.
My biggest takeaway was LeBron’s command of the room. I’ve been fortunate enough to see some of the NBA’s best players this season — Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid and others. Nobody generated the same buzz as LeBron. He’s just on another level. It’s palpable in the arena. It’s the same thing I’ve heard from people who saw Jordan in the 90s: “Hakeem, Barkley and Malone were great, but Jordan was just different!” Now I know what they mean.
I had the same feeling in Minnesota in 2016, the other time I witnessed LeBron in person, but now I’m better able to understand how his presence resonates greater than even the game’s other brightest talents. I revisited everything I punched into my notes app on January 21, when the Lakers beat the Magic, 116–105, behind a game-high 29 points from LeBron. Here is the story:
LeBron arrived on the Lakers’ first bus and went right to the weight room where music blasted from behind the closed doors. Security lingered outside. I was going back and forth from my duties at the media entrance, but I didn’t see LeBron go through any on-court work until the team took the floor for warmups. This is unique as basically every NBA player gets an individual workout in before the game.
The show really began in warmups. LeBron ran down the tunnel, which was jam-packed with fans, more than any other game, that connects the visiting locker room and the court, emerging to a sea of phones (including mine!) capturing his arrival:
He shuffled the length of the court, acknowledging his admirers by nodding his head repeatedly as if to say, “The King is here.” He played to the crowd, and every tomahawk slam was followed by an enormous “OHHHHH!!!!” from the purple and gold faithful. Even the Magic fans were oohing and ahhing… can you blame them?
Big market teams like New York, Chicago and Boston always travel well, but LeBron and the Lakers took it to a different level. Shaquille O’Neal was in the building, crammed into a floor seat at midcourt. (Shaq walked right past me at halftime and I can confirm he is enormous.)
The show continued once the game started. Early on LeBron had one of his signature chasedown blocks on the basket right in front of where I sit, and he punctuated it with a “Gimme that shit!” He had another chasedown on Jalen Suggs on the far hoop in the second half. The Magic were in transition and my eyes immediately found LeBron — the predator tracking his prey. On 99 percent of fastbreaks, you watch the offense — usually the ballhandler or sometimes the guy running the wing for a lob. Not when LeBron’s in pursuit.
Suggs was clearly pumped to play LeBron. There was a noticeable difference in his intensity and attacking style of play. He looked at LeBron and smiled once. On another occasion, Suggs hurtled toward the rim and was flagrantly fouled in midair by Talen Horton-Tucker, tumbling hard onto his back. I jolted as it played out in front of me, and for a moment it seemed like it could be a truly catastrophic injury for Suggs. LeBron didn’t even flinch. He peered down at Suggs, wiped his palms on his jersey and waited for play to resume. There is a trite falsehood that LeBron doesn’t have a killer’s mentality, but instances like that offer brief glimpses into his ruthlessness. The guy reacted to that play like an assassin.
We were treated to the full LeBron experience. Following an and-one, he turned to the crowd and flexed his shoulders. He was the alpha, and he wanted everyone to know it. He had a constant dialogue with the referees, lobbying after almost every whistle no matter how seemingly insignificant the call was. He fell to the floor once and remained there for a few extra seconds after the ref called the foul, milking the moment. It was all part of the show.
And put on a show he did. A pair of chasedown blocks, a signature sidestep 3 to his left, the time he screened for Russell Westbrook and rolled for a lob dunk, a no-look snap pass to Carmelo Anthony for 3, a look-away underhand scoop to Carmelo for another 3:
A backdoor cut along the baseline for an alley-oop reverse jam:
He was spectacular. So spectacular that it’s taken me this long to mention two of his Hall of Fame teammates, Anthony and Westbrook. Anthony Davis, another Hall of Famer, didn’t play but went through a light workout on the court before the game.
The Lakers won handily. After the game I had the following exchange with Rob Pelinka, formerly Kobe Bryant’s agent and currently the Lakers’ general manager: “Are those final box scores?” “Yes.” “I’ll take one.” Does saying one word to Rob Pelinka make me famous?
Shortly after that, LeBron, with ice wrapped around his knees, was whisked from the locker room, past screaming fans and into the media room to be interviewed. He faced the media before head coach Frank Vogel, which is atypical in the NBA. I rushed to get through my postgame responsibilities so I could loiter outside the locker room and catch a glimpse of LeBron before he got on the bus. He emerged from the locker room as fans shrieked his name. He wore a blue, short sleeve, casual button down and a bucket hat and quietly said, “Yup, yup, yup” — his way of acknowledging the mob of people screaming at him. And just like that he was off to do it all again in the next city.
It was remarkable. And to think LeBron has been the eye of the hurricane like that for 20-plus years. He’s one of the greatest athletes of all time and it was surreal to be in his orbit for three hours. I’ll never forget it. Have I mentioned I love my job?
