LeBron James doesn’t back away from a challenge and his former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate, Damon Jones had a first-hand experience of that when the Lakers star trumped him in a three-point contest at practice.
In a clip doing the rounds on social media, James was seen drilling it from the deep effectively, without a shirt, and didn’t even wear his shoes (he was seen wearing slippers) while Jones had a bit of a bad day after he airballed one of the shots.
Per a ClutchPoints report, the missed shot also drew quite sharp reactions from Anthony Davis and some of the Lakers players during practice. Reportedly, even James had a rather embarrassed look after the shot. You can watch the contest below:
LeBron James and coach Damon Jones having a three-point competition 🔥
(via @swishcultures_)pic.twitter.com/fbSEVukuKJ
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 12, 2022
On his part, Jones was an absolute sport about the miss. Taking to Twitter, the former Cavs guard wrote:
“They missed the 1s 3 spots! Jumper still on Auto Pilot ✈️ . @KingJames shooting the shit out of it though.”
They missed the 1s 3 spots! Jumper still on Auto Pilot 👨✈️🛫. @KingJames shooting the shit out of it though. https://t.co/7Mp7IIncr4
— Damon Jones (@D19J) October 12, 2022
Prior to suiting up for Los Angeles, James had shared the Cavaliers locker room with Jones between 2005 and 2008.
While the former was relatively new in the NBA then, Jones had played 11 years in the league. He retired in 2009 and was part of Tyronn Lue’s staff during the Cavs’ 2016 title run. He later parted ways with the side and presently works as a broadcaster for ESPN.
LeBron James Had A Fairly Good Preseason And Was Optimistic About Their Season
After what was rather a one-off four-point game against the Sacramento Kings in the preseason opener, James hit his straps with 23 points in the loss against the Phoenix Suns. He sat out against the Golden State Warriors but came back with a 25-point display against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Lakers’ final preseason skirmish.
Despite the relatively poor shooting against the Wolves, James was happy with the open looks the team managed to create. In a tweet by Spectrum SportsNet that posted a snippet of James talking about the shots that were taken and what they looked to accomplish over the course of the season.
"Our job is to clean glass if we're going to play small at times." – LeBron James on adapting to Darvin Ham's system and playing with a small-ball lineup. #Lakers pic.twitter.com/ric2XHUPF8
— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 13, 2022
“I don’t think any of the 3’s out of the 38 that we took were like forced 3’s. They were all of the drive and kick, off penetration, out of the pocket, finding guys weak side and it just didn’t go which is fine.”
To put things in better perspective, the side shot just 10 out of 39 from the deep, compared to the 17-of-39 against Golden State. That said, James didn’t seem too perturbed. It remains to be seen if they can replicate their strong performance on Opening Night (October 18) against the Warriors.
