LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The NBA’s best had not played a basketball game in more than four months. But Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James…
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — The NBA’s best had not played a basketball game in more than four months. But Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James did not just miss dribbling, passing and shooting that round, leather ball. He also missed another sport — football.
So during pregame warmups, James briefly moonlighted as a quarterback, called a play at the line of scrimmage and then threw the ball to a teammate. Seconds later, James rejoined the Lakers’ layup line and threw down a series of dunks.
There was no significance to the Lakers’ win over the Dallas Mavericks in a scrimmage last week. You can take significance, though, with how James handled his first NBA game since the league halted operations March 11 because of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Without fans in the stands, James showed how much his joy and enthusiasm could bolster excitement in a game he had loved for nearly his whole life.
“You got to create your own energy here,” James said. “We understand that there’s no fans. Our wonderful fans are watching this game on the TVs, on the laptops, phones, iPads, whatever the case may be. So it’s about us creating our own energy, understanding what we’re here for and that’s to get better. So that’s what it’s all about.”
Other coaches and players have adopted that attitude entering the NBA’s season restart beginning Thursday with a doubleheader that features the Pelicans-Jazz and Lakers-Clippers, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex.
