ALL-STAR GAME

February 18, 2024

LeBron James

Press Conference (Pregame)

Q. LeBron, for you, an NBA-record 20th All-Star selection. What has the All-Star Game meant to you in your career and how it has evolved, if it has evolved, from your early stages to now?

LEBRON JAMES: I think as a kid growing up and loving the game of basketball and watching the NBA All-Star Weekend and seeing the Sunday game, I always had dreams and visions if I was able to play the game at a high level and give everything to the game, hopefully I could be a part of that game someday.

It's just been an absolute honor to be able to grace the floor throughout my career and be out there with the greatest players in the world year in and year out.

This is very humbling, very blessed, and it's something I will never forget obviously. It's part of my journey.

Q. LeBron, you missed the last game prior to the break in Salt Lake City because of the left ankle. Did you seek any treatment on it in the days leading up to the All-Star Game? What's your plan in terms of minutes tonight? And how can you manage that and just your health in general to try to get this team as far as they can go the remainder of the season?

LEBRON JAMES: That's most important. Yes, I did seek treatment the last few days, trying to get my ankle as strong and as back to where I feel confident that I can finish off this last third of the season.

I won't be playing the entire game tonight, for sure. I can get out there and run around with the young guys for a little bit and then shut it down at some point to give my body, and my ankle more importantly, another opportunity to rest.

I'm seeking some more treatment tomorrow going into this week, because we have quite a few days this week as well. We don't play until the end of the week. See how that goes. But the most important thing for me is definitely my health, where I'm at right now, where our team is leaning. We're trending in the right direction.

Obviously, with our Laker team, it's been about health all year. Trying to do what's best for me for the betterment of the team.

Q. LeBron, in year 21, how are the ways that you affect the game? How has that changed, in terms of both methods and frequency? And how has that affected the players around you, and has it given guys opportunities to maybe take on more roles, bigger opportunities?

LEBRON JAMES: Yes. I think for me, I can affect the game in a lot of ways. At this point in my career, it's still the same way. I can affect the game by being on the ball, being off the ball, cutting from the weak side, slashing from the weak side, running in transition. I have the ability to shoot the ball in space at more frequency at a higher level than I was early in my career. So I've worked on that.

My mind is just sharper than anything. It's allowed me to go out there and sometimes just outthink the game and not have to physically be imposing out on the floor for 40 minutes or 42, whatever the case may be that I'm out there. I could pick my spots.

When I need to be more aggressive offensively or less aggressive and allow guys like D-Lo and A.R. to run the team, and I can play off the ball, whatever the case may be. Being able to have a dominant threat like AD and being able to throw the ball to him and wait and see what the defense is going to do and play off with that.

I guess I'm just a lot smarter than I was in my first ten years compared to these last ten years.

Q. I want to talk about defense, on the day of the All-Star Game. You've been in the league for so long where the three-point shot has changed. I think we talked about how that shot is shot more often than how it's defended. From your perspective as someone who, especially now, has to defend so many threes on your team defense, what's your perspective how it's changed and what you can do to defend threes?

LEBRON JAMES: I guess each team is going to dictate what your defense allows you to do or what you want to take away. At the end of the day, we're All NBA players, and you can't take away everything. Guys are going to score, guys are going to shoot threes, guys are going to put up numbers. It's what you're willing to give up, not what you want to take away.

Every team is different. Every team's portfolio is different of how they attack the game. If you do your scouting, if you do your research, you know players' tendencies, you can be proactive more than reactive.

You're absolutely right, the game that's definitely got to, because of analytics, when that tapped into our game, it's more just like layups, dunks, free throws, threes. A lot of teams are trying to shy away from the midrange. A lot of teams are trying to shy away from a lot of other things that, when I came into the league, that was very important.

Depending on the teams that you're playing, you know the teams that want to shoot 40, 50 threes a game. You know the teams that want to shoot 25 to 30. You just have to do your scouting and be prepared for it.

Q. LeBron, obviously it's your 20th All-Star Game, setting a record. For the last generation, you've been one of the faces of the league. When you came into the league, there was a lot of talk about who would be the person to succeed Michael Jordan eventually as the face of the league. Now questions crop up of, when you eventually stop playing, who would be able to succeed you in that role. I'm just curious, just looking forward, to however long it is until you stop, how do you see that playing out? Who do you see potentially being able to do that?

LEBRON JAMES: I don't know, because when I came into the league, I didn't look at myself as the face of anything. I didn't look at myself as the next Michael or the successor to Michael.

When I came into the league, the first thing that I thought about was I have to start over now. I have built my rep in high school from my freshman year to my senior year, from being a 14-year-old freshman, I was 6'2", 180 pounds, and I was like, okay, how can I make a name for myself at St. Vincent-St. Mary, all the way to my senior year, where I was the number one player in the country.

That's the same thing I did when I got drafted. I did not come in with the mindset I was the number one player in the country still. I came in with the mindset I have to start over and I'm just one of 450 guys. I think that's what allowed me to build and build and build.

I didn't think about being the face of the league. I knew I was being put in a position that I was being the face of a franchise, NBA franchise, at 18 years old. It was very stressful, and I knew the odds were stacked up against me and a lot of people wanted to see me fail. And I just kind of used that as motivation.

But at the same time, understanding that I still have to be a professional. I know it's a lot to ask for a teenager, but I wanted to represent my family with the utmost respect, represent my city with the utmost respect, do it on the floor at a high level, but also do it off the floor at a high level. Whatever came out of that came out of that.

We have a great young group of guys in our league right now that is playing spectacular basketball and also being great off the floor as well. But I don't think you just say, okay, well, this guy's the next person to be the face of anything. You have to just let it happen organically and then see what happens.

But we have some great, great players in this league that can carry anything if they put their mind to it and they want it.

Q. LeBron, I know you talked about the All-Star Game sort of in the breadth of your career, but I'm wondering about the particulars at this point in your 20th version, 19th version. I remember your first All-Star Game saying you're looking around the locker room at Allen Iverson and Grant Hill and Vince Carter, and it feels special. What is it at 19, 20 years in that feels special at this particular age?

LEBRON JAMES: Being here. You still get that moment where I'm in the locker room looking at Steph, AD, KD, Kawhi, Joker, Luka all those guys. Those are just a few of the names. Those are the guys in the West. So you still have that feeling like, this is pretty cool.

I still at heart and like deep inside, I'm still like that 18-year-old kid that came into this league from Akron, Ohio, which is like you don't really have many inspirations. You've got to grab it from somebody, and it's usually like a family member or a basketball coach or a football coach or a teacher or somebody like that. It's not many people that make it on TV or make it to doing special things that you think is special.

When you're a kid, you think like musicians and people in sports, you think those are the only special people. But actually it's my Little League coaches and my mom and my uncle and things of that nature. I still have that feeling still.

I was just clowning with AD before I came in here. I looked to my left and see who I was sitting next to, and I'm sitting between AD and Steph, probably two of the best players that are going to play this game. Obviously, we know what Steph is about and we know what AD's about. So pretty cool still.

Q. LeBron, I know it's impossible to forecast what you're going to feel like 4 1/2 months from now or how deep the season will go for you guys. But when you think about the Olympics, it's 11 games at the most, but at the same time, it's 5 1/2 weeks and a lot of miles. Knowing how much you put into keeping your body as great as you can keep it, how daunting does that feel? I guess how confident are you that, if all goes right, you'll want to be there and you'll want to put yourself through the grind of it all?

LEBRON JAMES: Yeah, I mean, I told myself before the season when I committed to being a part of the Olympic team, obviously it was all predicated on my health. As it stands right now, I am healthy enough to be on the team and perform at a level that I knew I could perform at.

Like you said, there's still time left in the season, a third left in the regular season. Obviously, I don't know what the future holds as far as postseason, whatever the case may be. Like you said, it's 11 games, but it is 5 1/2 weeks, and it's more miles put on these tires.

I've always -- if I'm committed, which I am, to Team USA, then I'm going to commit my mind, body and soul to being out there for Team USA, being out there representing our country with the utmost respect and go out and play.

But the one thing I know for sure, I don't have to carry the load. I've never had to carry the load on any one of the three teams I've been on, the '04 team, the '08 team and the '12 team. I just try to do my best and be as great as I can be on the floor in the minutes I'm out there.

I'm not sure right now what the full team is going to look like, but from some of the names, I know I don't have to feel any pressure going out there to feel like I have to carry the team. That's going to be a full 12-man roster that's capable of doing it both offensively and defensively on any given night versus any country in the world.

Q. LeBron, you sometimes react on social media when a guy scores 70 points, and it's happened a few times recently. What are you thinking when you watch that game in terms of the offensive ability to put up that many points? Then secondarily to that, do you see someone getting 80 and 90 the way the game is played today? In what circumstance is that going to happen?

LEBRON JAMES: First of all, it's (expletive) great to see you. It's so great to see you, Jeff (Zillgitt). Love this. And the fact that you got the last question is even greater. You tried to hide in the back. I love that as well. Love you, man. Wow, it's great to see you.

To your question, there's so much scoring in this league. You can't really put your hands on people too much. I think there's guys that have learned that ability to get to the free throw line very frequently out on the floor. You have guys shooting 20 -- I've seen guys shoot 15 to 20 threes in a game.

We have some great scorers in this game, that when you see guys putting up 50s, 60s, 70s, it's like you're watching the game, you're like, oh, man, he either had a heater, he caught fire. You've seen guys this year scoring like 40 in the first half.

I don't know, you've got so many great talents in this league. Would I sit here and say I think guys can score 80 or 90? Yeah, why not? It's been done before. Talent is talent no matter what generation it is. '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s all the way until now, talent is talent, and great basketball and great scorers are going to be great scorers no matter what era they're in. Once a great scorer gets going, there's really nothing you can do.

I know you've asked this question before, and a lot of you guys have asked, what does it feel like to be in a zone? Once a guy's in a zone, there's nothing you can do. If a guy decides he wants to stay in the zone, or you've seen Caitlin the other night when she broke the record, there's nothing you can do. There's nothing you can do.

If the game's flowing at a very good pace and you've got a heater from the midrange, you've got a heater from the free throw line, you're shooting threes, you shoot 15 threes, you make 10 of them, that's 30 right there. You go to the free throw line 15 times and make another 13, 14, that's 43 points right there. You could very easily make another 10, 12, 15 points from two-point land and just be at 60, 70, 80.

I think it's possible. I mean, we've seen Kobe. We've seen Kobe do it. Kobe -- obviously, I'm not going to put too many guys on Kobe's level, but when you have a hot streak, we've seen Kobe live put up 81. I think it could be done.

Q. I'll use the opportunity for a bonus question. Assuming --

LEBRON JAMES: Of course you get a bonus question. You don't have to ask that. Of course.

Q. Assuming that you're closer to the end of your career than the beginning of your career --

LEBRON JAMES: I am. I promise you.

Q. Have you mapped out what that looks like to you in terms of how many more seasons? Then does it end with the team you're playing for right now?

LEBRON JAMES: I have not mapped out how many seasons I have left. I know it's not that many. I also don't know if I will -- I was asked this question a couple days ago. Will you kind of take the farewell tour, or will you kind of just Tim Duncan it?

I'm 50-50, I'm going to be honest, because there's times when I feel like I guess I owe it to my fans that have been along this journey with me for two decades plus, to be able to give them that moment where it's every city and whatever the case may be and they give you your flowers or whatever the case may be. That seems cool.

But the other side of I've never been that great with accepting like praise. It's a weird feeling for me. I never really talked about it much, but it's just a weird feeling for me. So to go in each city, if that's the case -- I don't know. I've seen Mike's, I've seen Kobe's. I've seen a lot of guys. I just don't know how much I -- how I'd feel. I don't know if I'd feel great about it. Maybe the only child in me maybe.

But I don't know. I am a Laker, and I am happy and been very happy being a Laker the last six years, and hopefully it stays that way. But I don't have the answer to how long it is or which uniform I'll be in. Hopefully it is with the Lakers. It's a great organization and so many greats. But we'll see. I don't know how it's going to end, but it's coming. It's coming, for sure.