LeBron James shocks the HBO airwaves with episode 3 of “The Shop!”

The third episode of LeBron James’ show, “The Shop” recently aired and we discuss what happened on the most recent installment.

LeBron James is now over 30 games into his Los Angeles Lakers career. Much has been said about his on-court play and how the Lakers have fared this season. He has also done his thing off the court as well. He has an HBO program called “The Shop” that has been wildly successful!

Maybe the direction of the franchise was not all LeBron James discussed with Magic Johnson before the contract signing. Maybe Johnson was giving him talk show advice…say what you want about The Magic Show, I liked it. Okay, maybe it was Sheila E.

LeBron James now has talk show host on his list of responsibilities, launching his brand new show, “The Shop” on HBO. The half-hour series premiered just before the season started. This was the first project that put James in the forefront, more talking about things that are on his mind.

The show is centered around James, who chats with celebrity guests about sports, politics, race relations, parenthood and other topics that include, let me take a second look here, yep, BROADWAY MUSICALS!

If you look deeper, it is extremely smart and it does shine the light on the discussions that really do get discussed in a barber shop. Plus, it allows exposure to barbershops across the country with all of the productions and tapings being done in different shops. The first episode was taped in West Hollywood’s Barber Surgeons Guild.

I see where LeBron James is going with “The Shop”. This gives the hardcore NBA fan the chance to get to know James outside of basketball. It’s not the business closely guarded LeBron that talks about the NBA, the team and his teammates. In other words, some of the language used is not suitable for children.

“The Shop” shows him in a more relaxed mood and he seems a lot more open. It also introduces James in a sense to non-NBA fans that have been watching the seemingly one-sided feud with Donald Trump, who seemed to question his intelligence.

LeBron James Adds Talk Show Host to His Resume!

LeBron James comes to LA and puts the Lakers on the map. LeBron James comes to LA to put his TV projects on the map. Can he? Ronald Agers checks it out!

The second episode went into detail about the Pusha T/ Drake beef (which by the way has transformed to the Kanye West/Drake beef!).

LeBron James hits the HBO airwaves with episode 2 of “The Shop”

LeBron James hit the HBO airwaves with the second episode of the shop. This episode brings in Drake! LeBron James talks about his biggest hurdle ever!

I give LeBron James credit. He might not have known it at the time but he actually brought early insight into the Drake/Kim Kardashian/Kanye West controversy two weeks ago.

Plus LeBron James lets the world in on what he believes to be the greatest disappointments in his career and how it drove him to greatness.

"“It was 2011,” James said on his HBO show “The Shop,” pointing to his first season with the Heat. “Yeah, I mean, I had seven great seasons, eight great seasons. Went to Miami my first year and thought it would be easy, you know what I’m saying? I knew I had to still work hard. But I thought it would be easy because I was teaming up with some guys that was, you know, some real players.”"

"“In the sense of you know you could have done better. And, you know, after that Finals, man, I was just like, that’s never happening again. I may lose again. I may not win everything. But I will never, I will never fail at anything.”"

This is a show worth your time watching. Again the language is colorful, but it is just like hanging out with LeBron James, Maverick Carter and Hollywood and basketball friends just shooting the breeze. But episode 3 brought some controversy…

LeBron James makes a point about the NFL owners and talks Adam Silver

One of the guests on Episode 3 was Todd Gurley, the running back of the Los Angeles Rams. Also in the room was rapper/filmmaker/Big 3 founder Ice Cube, Jimmy Kimmel and Maverick Carter. The discussion was concerning the issue of players kneeling during the National Anthem and how the controversy had died down in the last couple of seasons.

Gurley brought up some reasons why the protests had lost its steam. He mentioned a variety of reason, most notably was financial.

LeBron had his take on the matter.

"“In the NFL they got a bunch of old white men owning teams, and they got that slave mentality,” James said during the episode. “And it’s like, ‘This is my team. You do what the f— I tell y’all to do or we get rid of y’all.’ “The players are who make the ship go. We make it go. Every Sunday, without Todd Gurley and without Odell Beckham Jr., without those players, those guys, there is no football. And it’s the same in the NBA.”"

Then the discussion went to the comparison between the NBA and the NFL.

"“The difference between the NBA and the NFL, the NBA is what we believe he [a player] can be. The potential,” James said. “In the NFL, it’s like what can you do for me this Sunday, or this Monday or this Thursday, and if you ain’t it, we moving on.”"

Then LeBron talked about NBA commissioner, Adam Silver and how he respects him.

"“I’m so appreciative in our league of our commissioner,” James said, referencing Adam Silver. “He doesn’t mind us having … a real feeling and to be able to express that. It doesn’t even matter if Adam agrees with what we are saying, he at least wants to hear us out. As long as we are doing it in a very educational, nonviolent way, then he’s absolutely OK with it.”"

This five-minute conversation blew up on social media. But there were really other topics that were covered.

Here are some that stuck out to me.

Ice Cube reveals how he moved from the rap game to the movie game!

Maverick Carter asked how Ice Cube, who is an icon in music (Not just rap…NWA is in the Rock N’Roll Hall of Fame!) went from being an all-time great to movies.

Ice Cube talked about how John Singleton convinced him to do the movie Boyz N’ the Hood. It is amazing how a guy who has done the Friday series and the Straight out of Compton smash can say that he thought he was totally unqualified to do movies.

He also talked about wanting John Singleton to see how the movie was being made.

LeBron James chimed in saying that the movie Friday was his favorite movie.

What resonated with me about Ice Cube was when he said that other people can see things in you that you can’t see in yourself.

He went on to say that he wanted to know everything there was about making movies down to the cameras, editing, screenwriting, he wanted to fully embrace the process in all aspects. This was one my favorite part of the show.

Jimmy Kimmel was asked why Trump was a part of his show. Kimmel wanted to get the message out that what Donald Trump was doing was not okay in his opinion. He also made a joke that Trump might be a comedian in his own right.

Maverick Carter joked that he might be the first white guy getting a haircut in a black barbershop to a lot of laughter.

Mary J. Blige and Nas were in the building!

Mary J. Blige was asked about her singing about women’s empowerment early in her career and how it influenced a movement. Blige talked about her experiences as a child seeing unhealthy relationships growing up and being a product of that at times as an adult.

Listening to her say that the only woman that she saw being treated right was her grandmother was amazingly sad.

Listening to her say she first used her music to free herself from her environment, then others show how deep painful times in your life can be used as inspiration to do great things.

If you haven’t ever gotten the chance to listen to the “My Life” album by Mary J. Blige, you need to listen to it. It is a classic. It is very rare that you can listen to a CD and not have to skip a song. Come to think about it the song “My Life” is probably the best song on the album!

LeBron James said that his Mom and her cousins would be talking while that album was playing all the time. That was an album that he grew up on.

Nas got into the discussion with LeBron about black culture and style.  LeBron talked how black culture and styles are being stolen as used by others. He went on to say that people have to continue to “push the needle” and work harder and not get frustrated for not getting the credit.

Nas went further with that stating how other cultures should not be quiet when black people are dealing with injustices. Show some credit by standing together and fighting against the injustices going on in the world.

What I got from the message is learn other cultures and understand the struggles of each culture. If there is an injustice…speak out. If all cultures ban together and join forces then change will come!

I cannot lie, I was amazed that social media blew up the way it did over one comment in a discussion that lasted less than five minutes. Again it does show that LeBron James’ does live in a fishbowl in a sense and everything that he does seems to be micro managed.

A simple blocked shot can be national news.

He can answer a question about playing with Anthony Davis and NBA rumors can go rampant for 48-72 hours…

"“That would be amazing,” James told ESPN on Tuesday before the Lakers’ 115-110 loss to the Brooklyn Nets, referring to the Lakers landing Davis through a trade. “That would be amazing, like, duh. That would be incredible.”"

Then get accused of tampering.

At least he has a sense of humor about the situation…

I have covered his three shows for Lake Show Life now and his statements and content are gaining more traction and more attention.

He already talked in detail about Donald Trump and how he feels about him. He has stated he will use this platform to say what he wants. For that I respect him. He’s already done great things from opening a school in Akron to speaking out at the ESPYs…

I do caution the context of what he says and have an understanding of the price that could be paid for controversial comments. The comparisons of NFL owners to slave owners is wrong even though I know what he is trying to express. Playing in the NFL is not like slavery. Slavery is a totally different subject. A subject that is a whole article by itself.

He’s already been put in a position to apologize already for an insensitive Instagram post.

No one wants all of this man’s hard work and accomplishments to be lost with a message taken out of context or a bad misstep. LeBron James has shown amazing courage for speaking out against injustices. I hope he knows and understands the consequences that come with it.

I’ll end it here.

Let us know what you thought about the third episode of “The Shop” in the comments below!