Indiana Pacers’ forward Aaron Nesmith shared the story of the first time he played against LeBron James to the TwoPercentPod, with the matchup occurring during Nesmith’s time with the Boston Celtics.
“LeBron runs straight to me and I was like, ‘Oh boy.’ Play starts, JB’s coming at me, I go to run at him to fake the backdoor. Man LeBron is at the block, and he was like, ‘Bro, you have not played. You’re not getting the ball first thing you come into the game.’”
James continued the trash-talk to Nesmith and the rest of the Celtics bench, telling them how he would score the next bucket before executing it exactly how he said it.
“Then LeBron was talking to my teammate because he was guarding him, it was a timeout, and he’s standing in front of our bench. He was like, ‘This is what I’m gonna do to you. I’m gonna put my hand up and tell them to throw it at the hand. Going to put my right leg over yours, I will fade away, and it’s going to be a bucket.’ 30 seconds later, he had it right here, boom, bucket. Trotted right back down. Different.”
“[Bron] runs straight to me… [He’s] at the block, & he was like, ‘Bro, you have not played ball. You’re not getting the ball first thing you come into the game.’”
Aaron Nesmith on playing against LeBron James for the first time 😅
(via @TwoPercenttPod)pic.twitter.com/STs2BFO08h
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) April 8, 2024
All the greats have stories like this about their playing ability and LeBron is definitely one of them. Given how he’s the oldest player in the NBA by age and experience, every active player had a Welcome to the NBA moment against LeBron given how high profile he’s been since his first day in the NBA.
Nesmith was responsible for containing James in recent matchups with the Indiana Pacers, including their In-Season Tournament Final. Nesmith has done a good job on James this season, with the Lakers star averaging 21.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 9.0 assists in games against the Pacers this season.
Nesmith is having a decent season himself, averaging 12.3 points and 3.8 rebounds on the playoff-contending Pacers.
LeBron Is Keeping His Game Young
Given the admiration players like Nesmith show, while talking about LeBron, his longevity is the best testament to his greatness. James has worked very hard to be able to extend his career like this, recently explaining why he decided to add a three-point jumper to his offensive arsenal.
“I don’t never have to lean on it (three-pointers) because I can do so much,” James said. “I can score at any level on the floor basically once I cross half court… But being able to have a growth mindset and be able to work on things that the league is changing to, the league is a heavy 3-point shooting league.”
James further elaborated on how he needs to be respected as a shooter to open up offensive opportunities for his team.
“But I want to be respected, and teams have to play me from the outside. I know that’s still kind of one thing teams still want to be like, ‘Okay, if we have to give up something, we’d much rather him shoot the ball from the outside.'”
James is averaging 41.3% on three-point shot attempts this season, shooting 5.2 attempts per game. With this development in his shooting skill, there’s no telling how much longer James can play.
All we know is that a few more classes of NBA rookies are going to have a rude awakening when they face a 40-year-old LeBron James next season.
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