Barack Obama is one of the most popular presidents in US history. The 44th president of the United States was famous for his fanaticism for basketball, especially for Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. Obama has been linked with the NBA in recent years, even after finishing his mandate at the White House.
Proof of that is the role he played to convince players to keep playing in the bubble when some teams didn’t want to continue. He had a call with LeBron James and that did the job for the King and the rest of the NBA player to restart the playoffs. Flash forward, we found Obama joining LeBron’s HBO talk-show ‘The Shop,’ where he talked about a lot of topics, including the upcoming election and basketball-related matters.
At some point, the conversation turned to James playing fewer minutes in the first half of the upcoming season. LeBron will be 36 in December and he’s not the young guy he used to be, although his body seems to be great. Obama let him know that it was time to take some rest and let Anthony Davis take the reins of the team. James was told he probably has five or 10 more years to go, and the president didn’t hesitate to share his opinion.
Obama: “He’s definitely gonna have some minutes restriction. I’m not sure he’s getting back on D the first half of the season.” “Let Anthony Davis do all the work, man.”
LeBron: “That’s what I got him for.”
This was a hilarious exchange and seeing how LeBron played last season, he really should consider taking some rest in the season. He’s not getting any younger and the next campaign will bring a lot of challenges to the Lakers since they are the team to beat. James needs to be in the best shape when the playoffs arrive and taking some rest during the season is the best option for him.
Yet, we all know how competitive he is and it’ll be hard seeing James doing this kind of thing.
