SUMMARY
- LeBron James' 2024 NBA All-Star Game shoes were an homage to Coach Prime, Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffalos.
- The 20x All-Star wore the colorway to celebrate his 21st season in the NBA.
LeBron James has been continuing his reign as one of the top players in the league by pushing past several barriers. We did not see much of the 4x NBA Champion during the 2024 NBA All-Star Game as he has been dealing with injuries. James decided to take it slow rather than going ballistic on the floor. He played for only 14 minutes finishing with 8 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. But the night was just purely historic for various reasons.
LeBron James’ signature dunk will never get old ♥️#NBAAllStar2024 pic.twitter.com/Dv1z3CSyBV
— 🎗NBA•Fan🎗 (@Klutch_23) February 19, 2024
The Los Angeles Lakers forward was selected as an NBA All-Star for the 20th straight season. James is now the only NBA athlete with 20x All-Star selections which also means he has the most appearances in the history of the game. To cap it all off, he was selected as the Western Conference’s team captain. Unfortunately, Team LeBron failed to get the job done but the night was nothing short of spectacular. James also paid homage to a special person named Deion Sanders.
Why did LeBron James pay homage to Coach Prime Deion Sanders?
During the All-Star game, LeBron James wore special shoes dedicated to Deion Sanders, who is the head coach of the Colorado Buffalos. Deion Sanders, popularly known as “Coach Prime” has been a top gun in the sport of football. James wore the customer colorway to celebrate his 21st season in the league. No.21 was previously donned by Sanders during his time in the NFL.
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This was a never-before-seen colorway of the Nike LeBron 21 collection. The shoe was black with white stripes starting from the bottom of the sole. The Nike logo on the side of the shoe was stitched in gold to show a bit of contrast. These were also a throwback to the Nike Air DT Max ’96 shoes. Nike LeBron 21s were released in September 2023. Nike has released multiple colorways since it came out as well.
LeBron James still has no date mapped out for retirement
Before the 2024 NBA All-Star Game commenced, LeBron James took some time to address questions the media had in store for him. He was asked about his retirement plans and whether he had a date set for it. James replied, “I have not mapped out how many seasons I have left. I know it’s not that many.” James also revealed if he wants to do a farewell tour or call it quits just like Tim Duncan did in 2016.
“I’m going to be honest. There are times I feel like I owe it to my fans who have been along this journey for two decades-plus… That seems cool, but on the other side: I’ve never been that great with accepting praise. It’s a weird feeling for me. I’ve never really talked about it much,” James said claiming he was split between a farewell tour or a sudden exit. Perhaps the 4x NBA Champion is waiting for Bronny James to make it to the NBA before hanging it up.