LeBron James on Tyrese Maxey: ‘Love this kid, man!’

LeBron James and Tyrese Maxey seem to admire each other.

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  Brian Topolek
  

• exist November 29, 2023 4:55 pm

The 76ers handed LeBron James the worst loss of his 21-year NBA career on Monday. After the game, Tyrese Maxey heaped praise on the soon-to-be 39-year-old player.

“The numbers speak for themselves” maxi says. “He’s also a guy who’s really good at basketball. I feel like his work ethic, now 21 years in, hasn’t slowed down, which to me is the crazy part. Like, he’s still trying to get there early.

“When we work out at 6 o’clock in the morning, he’s still trying to get to the gym before me. He’s got, what, four MVPs, Finals MVP? He’s got it all, he’s got a lot of accolades. He’s still willing to go out there and he’s motivated. To beat a 22-year-old guy who hasn’t done anything in the gym? That just shows who he is, man. Hats off to him.”

Sixers reporter Lauren Rosen asked Maxey to reveal what exactly happened during those practices, and Maxey was happy to oblige.

“Training is at six,” Maxey said. “As usual, I got there early. Stretching at 5:30. The next time we worked out at six, he was there at five. When I walked in, he was sweating profusely. I said : “What’s wrong, what are you doing? ” He said, ‘I can’t let you get to the gym first.’ I was like, ‘You’re crazy.’ He was sweating profusely and just had to do the whole lift. All week long, he wanted to be there at 5 o’clock. I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to lift weights after this workout, so you’ve got it, man.”

These comments did not go unnoticed. On Wednesday, James credited Maxey’s offseason work with his supernova start to the 2023-24 NBA season.

Those comments were in stark contrast to James’ brief answers to questions after Monday’s game. When asked what changes the Lakers need to make to avoid another blowout loss like this, James responded: “Well, a lot.”

This is typically around the time each season when James starts instigating roster changes, so no one should read too much into these comments. The Lakers are currently 10-8 and ranked seventh in the Western Conference, but they have rebounded from a 3-5 start to win seven of their last 10 games.

However, it is worth noting that James may decline the $51.4 million player option for the 2024-25 season in July and become a free agent. Remind me, which team could easily create over $50 million in cap space next summer, if you will? Ah yes.

To be clear: James will likely end his career with the Lakers. His family settled in Los Angeles, and he had his own off-field business to keep an eye on. But maybe the third time is the magic in Joel Embiid’s recruitment?

Maxey is represented by Klutch Sports superagent Rich Paul, who also represents LeBron. It’s possible that James was just doing his part to hype up one of Klutch’s clients, especially one who’s about to get a nine-figure payday in July.

That probably won’t stop Embiid from returning to the #Summer2024Goals hashtag, though.

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