LeBron James was arguably at the peak of his powers in 2012 when he took Team USA to the Gold at the London Olympics. During those Games, LeBron jokingly debuted a move he deemed unstoppable, a spinning skyhook that he tried teaching Kevin Durant. He brought the move back during practice at the Paris Olympics 12 years later, reacting with the same joy he had the first time he made the shot on camera.
12 years later, @KingJames brought back the “unstoppable move” in Paris! 😂 pic.twitter.com/U7YDy4oC9z
— NBA (@NBA) August 15, 2024
James has proven his ability to be an ambidextrous shooter at various points in his career, with his spinning skyhook a representation of that ability. He starts the move with his right hand and switches it to his left to shoot the hook, which is incredibly impressive.
We likely will never see James try this in an actual game of competitive basketball, as the low arc on the hook puts it at risk of being blocked. If he’s open, he’d rather dunk it or take a layup. Unless the situation on the court plays out perfectly, a shot like this would be impractical.
But if he can shoot it in the right circumstances, it really could be unstoppable. This is a streetball move so maybe we see James bust it in practice again or while playing one-on-one against somebody. We had to wait 12 years to see him try it again after the first time, so the bigger likelihood is that we never see this again.
LeBron James Won’t Represent Team USA Again
LeBron James made it clear after securing Gold at Paris 2024 that he will not be lining up to be a part of the Team USA roster for the 2028 Olympics, 24 years from when James made his Olympic debut at Athens 2004.
“No, I can’t see myself playing in Los Angeles 2028. I didn’t see myself playing in Paris 2024 either. But four years from now, I can’t see it.”
James won his third Gold medal this summer, joining a select few in Team USA history who can claim to have won three Olympic Gold medals for the country. He averaged 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 8.5 assists points throughout the tournament and was named MVP for his performances.
He had a diplomatic answer when asked which medal meant the most to him.
“I mean, (this) is the best one because it’s the one that’s right now. I mean, obviously the Redeem Team (in ’08) had a lot of — you know, we had to come back, because we had a couple of years where we weren’t playing to our capability. So in ’08, we had the Redeem Team come back, and then in ’12 we played some good ball as well and were able to win that in London.”
James won’t be recreating his spinning hook shot at another Team USA practice again, so we should be glad we got to see him pull it off once more before closing the chapter on his international career.
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