LeBron James is one of the top superstars in the league, and his longevity is unprecedented. He is still an extremely athletic player at 37, and he is having a fantastic individual season. Currently, LeBron James is putting up 29.4 PPG, 8.1 RPG, and 6.2 APG, while shooting 35.4% from beyond the arc.
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has always been an admirer of LeBron James and his game. LeBron James has often been compared to Michael Jordan, and Popovich once claimed that he was “mesmerized” by both of those players.
“It’s kind of like when I first came to the league back in the 80s as an assistant coach. I get mesmerized watching Michael on the court, and you know, I wasn’t much help to Larry Brown. I’m watching Michael and I do that with LeBron. He’ll do things. He’ll look over once in a while and smirk,” Popovich said.
Recently, Gregg Popovich explained why he appreciated LeBron James from the very first day that he entered the league. Popovich claimed that James had “mental toughness” and added that it was impressive that LeBron James had his kind of “maturity” at a “young age”.
Pop continued: “I’ve appreciated LeBron from Day 1 … He never let (early criticism) to get to him … it’s the mental toughness. It really impressed me at that young age for him to have that maturity.”
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) March 7, 2022
“I’ve appreciated LeBron from Day 1 … He never let (early criticism) to get to him … it’s the mental toughness. It really impressed me at that young age for him to have that maturity.”
There is no doubt that LeBron James dealt with a lot of pressure and expectations coming out of high school. He has largely lived up to them, and he is widely viewed as one of the best players to have ever played the game.
The Los Angeles Lakers haven’t been a good team this year, but it is clear that LeBron James is doing everything possible to keep the team competitive. Hopefully, they are able to make a winning run in the near future, but it looks as though they’ll be a play-in tier team at the end of the season.
