LeBron James will go down as one of the greatest basketball players ever, no doubt for his talent, skill level, and greatness. But if there’s one thing we’ve seen regarding his impact on his teammates, it’s the positive mark he makes on those around him.
In a recent interview on ESPN, former Cavs big man Tristan Thompson described how “King James” impacted his life, by being a role model and leading by example.
“I was just so lucky to be a part of those three different eras. For me, being with LeBron for those last four years, it just shows you what great players do and bit on LeBron, the first year right after the labour day he was in the gym ready to go an [indiscernible] a few weeks later, so me and Kyrie were like, ‘this guy is full in gym sweat before 10 am, this is what the greats do.’”
When Thompson elected to on the Celtics in 2020, James was among the firsts people he reached out to. Having learned from Bron for four years, Thompson wanted to take what he had learned and bring it to another team.
“My decision to the Celtics, I texted him, ‘everything you taught me those four years and even prior to that in our relationship, I wanna basically pay it forward to these guys like Jayson and Jaylen and Marcus’ because these guys all have potential to be very good and you see how great Jayson is and Jaylen, in my opinion, an All-star talent and Marcus is getting better every single year in his career. So … being able to play with great players, and learn stuff from them, we should pay it forward because that’s what keeps things going.”
That’s the kind of impact James has. He inspires greatness in others. We saw it in Cleveland, we saw it in Miami, and we’re seeing it now with the Lakers, even at 36-years-old.
It’s really no wonder why he has found so much success over the course of his 17-year career.
