LeBron James is almost 41 and somehow still pulling off stuff that belongs in a coaching clinic. The latest example came in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 112–108 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, a game where Luka Doncic dropped a 31-15-11 triple-double and still kind of felt like the side story. The real moment everyone kept replaying afterward was not a dunk or a stepback, but a steal. And not just any steal, a steal LeBron literally called before it happened.
The game was already wild. Tyrese Maxey went off for 28 points, 9 assists, and 7 boards, Joel Embiid struggled badly from the field, and LeBron responded to his recent 8-point dud by torching the Sixers with 29 points on 12 of 17 shooting, plus 7 rebounds and 6 assists. He scored 10 straight in the fourth to drag the Lakers over the finish line, hitting a deep three and a filthy jumper over Quentin Grimes when the game was tied at 105.
Then came the play that turned into a viral breakdown. Up four with only 4.2 seconds left, the Lakers just needed one more stop. In the huddle, cameras caught LeBron doing what he has been doing for two decades. He was not talking about his own matchup. He was literally coaching the defense. In the video, you can see him pointing, telling Austin Reaves to take Grimes, and explaining that the Sixers were going to run a set to free Grimes for a quick three with Joel Embiid setting the screen. He is basically diagramming the opponent’s play for his own team.
And the steal to ice the game 🧊
What a finish for LeBron James! https://t.co/M2cq2yi7nf pic.twitter.com/WqCSxzowAI
— NBA (@NBA) December 8, 2025
They walk back on the floor, and everything unfolds exactly like he said. Embiid comes up to be the screener, Grimes starts to pop out for the catch, and LeBron sells it for half a second like he is going to stay attached to the big. Then he does the veteran thing. He abandons the decoy, jumps the passing lane, and picks off the inbounds before the ball even touches Grimes’ hands. The boxscore will only say “James steal, Sixers turnover,” but what really happened is that LeBron won the possession twenty seconds earlier in the timeout.
That is the part that separates this from a normal clutch play. Plenty of stars have quick hands or good instincts. What this clip shows is a guy who has seen every set, every ATO option, every variation of that action so many times that he can read it like a children’s book. The Sixers did not run something broken. It was a standard end-of-game look for a shooter. LeBron just recognized it immediately and decided the ball was never getting there.
For the Lakers, this is exactly why you live with the off nights and the load management and the age jokes. On a random December night, he flipped the game with pure shot-making, then finished it with basketball IQ that looks unfair. For the 76ers, it is a reminder that you cannot just “run the script” against someone who has been in more playoff-level situations than your whole roster combined. If your last play is predictable, he is going to sniff it out.
There was a time when “LeBron the genius defender” felt like a nerdy thing only hardcore hoops fans talked about. Now it is on full display in HD, subtitled, broken down, and shared a million times in a day. The steal itself was simple. The story behind it was not. He scouted the play in real time, told everyone what was coming, and then went out and stole the ball exactly where he said it would be. At this point, it is less like he is just playing the game and more like he is finishing a script he already read.
LeBron’s History Of High IQ Plays Is Nothing New
That steal against the Sixers felt unreal in the moment, but anyone who has paid attention to LeBron’s career just shrugged and went “yeah, that tracks.” This is not some late-career surprise. This is who he has been for twenty years: a superstar who plays the game like a point guard, a coach, and a scout all crammed into one body.
Former teammate Iman Shumpert has told stories for years about how wild it was to share a locker room with him in Cleveland. Shumpert said LeBron did not just know the Cavaliers’ playbook; he knew the other team’s playbook, the tendencies of every coach they faced, and how each opponent wanted to run its offense. According to him, LeBron would literally call out what was coming, explain the action, and then they would watch it unfold exactly the way he said, to the point Shumpert felt like he had not done his own homework.
You can see that vision in his passing, too. One of the most famous examples came back in his Cavaliers days against the Lakers, when he sold the defense on a swing to Kyle Korver at the three-point line. Every defender bit on his eyes and body angle, and at the very last second he whipped a one-handed no-look bullet to Ante Zizic diving to the rim for an easy dunk. The whole defense turned its head one way, the ball went the other way, and it instantly turned into a viral clip because it looked like he had eyes in the back of his head.
Plays like that are not just about flair. They are the product of knowing where all ten players are, where they are supposed to be next and how to use that information to make everyone else look a step slow. Whether it is a ridiculous no-look dime in the paint or a game-sealing steal because he sniffed out an ATO in advance, the pattern is the same. LeBron keeps proving that his athleticism might age, but his brain for basketball is still completely unfair.
