At 39, entering Year 22, LeBron James decided to compete at the highest levels of international play, representing Team USA at the Paris Olympics instead of resting this summer.
He was, in a word, magnificent. LeBron never had a subpar game and often looked like the best player on the planet.
The basketball experts agreed and after winning the gold medal, he was voted the 2024 Olympics FIBA MVP.
As LeBron has progressed in his career, at some point, the topic of conversation became how long he’s been this good. Now, everyone, including myself, talks about how old he is.
NBA players are no different and during Media Day, LeBron revealed the Team USA teammates who teased him for his age when speaking to Spectrum.
“Ant-Man, for sure, Tyrese Haliburton, them boys were on me all summer calling me Old Head and Grandpa, things of that nature. You probably saw a little bit throughout the summer in my beard, my gray hairs was coming out. I was looking like a real grandpa…But the young guys on the Olympics team, they gave it to me man. It was all fun. It’s great to be around young guys. They gave me energy and I tried to give it back to them.”
Poor Hali😂 pic.twitter.com/s4zOFILqIa
— Mimi (@ItsShowTimeMimi) July 27, 2024
I would love to hear what LeBron’s trash talk was to Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Haliburton.
Did he remind them that he has four rings to their zero? Maybe he reversed his age on them and called them “young bucks”? Or perhaps he just used his legendary status to remind them that he’d rather be 39-year-old LeBron instead of 20-plus them?
If I were LeBron, I’d probably just show Haliburton the clip of fans going crazy in Europe for James and Steph and getting dead silent when he walked by.
In all seriousness, it’s great to see LeBron taking the teasing in stride. It’s a blessing to play at this level at his age. Even his biggest haters have to admit he is in a league of his own regarding longevity.
Only Vince Carter has played 22 NBA seasons and when he did it, he averaged five points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.8 assists. James is going to demolish those numbers as a start for the Lakers this year and do so by hopefully leading the franchise to an 18th championship.
Yup, that’s right, a light-hearted Media Day, one training camp practice and I’m thinking about the best route for a Lakers parade. We are so back!