LeBron James’ focus has not wavered despite a never-before-seen situation.
This season will go down as the most unique NBA season of all-time. After a months-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA resumed play in a bubble atmosphere at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The one constant of this season is that LeBron James (and the Los Angeles Lakers) are in the NBA Finals.
The Lakers may be a new face because of the recent trials and tribulations but the Laker franchise is still the most prestigious in the league. James, of course, has now been to 10 NBA Finals, including eight of the last nine.
This is arguably his hardest path as well with the strings attached to this NBA season. Prior to the bubble beginning, it was a common consensus among pundits that this format would benefit the younger players as they were closer removed from college (and dorm) situations. This is essentially every college athlete’s dream dorm.
LeBron is obviously as far as it gets from being a young player when it comes to the superstars in the league but that has not mattered. The Lakers made it to the NBA Finals with a 12-3 record and LeBron James assured the fans that despite everything going on, he is still as locked in as he has ever been.
“I’ve been as locked in as I’ve ever been in my career.” - @KingJames pic.twitter.com/zn9O075xMp
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) September 29, 2020
The part of LeBron James’s comments that really caught my attention was him stating that “if I am going to be here then I am going to make the most of it.” He also said — at the end of the clip — “however many days it is, it feels like five years.”
LeBron and others have been away from their families for two months now, which is obviously a much harder hurdle to overcome for those that have children than those who are living the single life. LeBron, as we know from observing him, is as big of a family man as it comes.
It would be impossible to blame LeBron for letting that serve as a distraction. Family is most important, especially in times like these, and it is very easy to lose complete focus on basketball when you have not seen your family in two months.
However, being the best basketball player on planet Earth, LeBron seems to have that switch in him. That switch that flips him into game-mode the second the opening tip-off is floated into the air.
Even if he has not been as dominant in these playoffs as recent years, he has still been fantastic and as he said himself, the preparedness has not wavered at all.
Hopefully, that can result in an NBA Championship at the end of the NBA Finals. Then, during that moment when he lifts his fourth Larry O’Brien Trophy over his head, it might finally all be worth it.