LeBron James once delved into the details surrounding his desire to win at the highest level. As many NBA fans should undoubtedly be aware by now, King James is an NBA star currently in his 21st year with the Los Angeles Lakers. Throughout his accomplished career, LeBron has managed to make the NBA Finals 10 times and has 4 titles to his legacy.
There are a plethora of accolades that the Lakers star has to his name besides the ones just mentioned. After all, he is the only player from the modern generation to be included in the GOAT conversation alongside other NBA legends such as Michael Jordan.
In order to perform and win at the highest level, star athletes such as LeBron James strive to inculcate a certain type of mentality. That said, let us take a closer look and find out more.
LeBron James was unhappy with his teammates’ mindset
Considering the fact that LeBron participated in this podcast/ interview over a year ago, fans can certainly understand that King James was frustrated at that particular point in time. After managing to win the NBA title in 2020, the Lakers were eliminated in the first round of the 2021 playoffs by the Phoenix Suns.
To make matters worse, the team failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2022. Since that is something that is a rare occurrence for LeBron, there is no denying that it took a toll on his mindset and approach to the game of basketball.LeBron recently shared that his feelings toward winning had not changed at all.
“Yeah, I’m obsessed with it. With win or bust. And what makes me have sleepless nights is when you don’t have everyone who feels the same way in your club. Like it’s times where I wish I was a tennis player or a golfer where it was literally like look in the mirror mothe*f*cker it’s you vs you….”
Although he might not have intended to do so, King James may have indirectly admitted that all the players on his squad at the time might not have felt the same way about winning as he did. As a result, he wishes that basketball was an individual sport often.
Can LeBron James lead the Lakers to their 18th title?
Quite a lot of time has passed since LeBron made those statements. At the moment, the Lakers are coming off a postseason trip to the Western Conference Finals and have quite high expectations on their shoulders this season.
Since King James believes in the win-or-bust approach, he might just consider anything short of winning a title to be a failure. While LeBron is still playing at an unheard-of level for someone in Year 21, he will have to rely on the younger players on the Lakers such as Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, and D’Angelo Russell if he wishes to bring the Lakers their 18th championship banner in franchise history.