Slowly, LeBron James put on a pair of ice bath toe booties and dipped his left foot and then his right foot into a bucket that had been prepared for him following a Lakers game at Crypto.com Arena. His longtime personal trainer and athletic performance coach, Mike Mancias, next wrapped both of James’ knees and his back in ice.
James closed his eyes for a few seconds and leaned back in his chair as the media gathered around him for his postgame interview.
This was just another step in the process of how James has taken care of his body, a step that shows the lengths he takes in the maintenance of his body that has helped him have an illustrious 23-year career, longer than any player before him.
“Obviously I didn’t know it would be 23 years. I didn’t know that, but I know I didn’t want to have no six- or seven-year career. I can’t become legendary in six or seven years,” James told The Times. “I always had a mission. When I knew I could play this game at a high level, like, going to Chicago and playing with MJ [Michael Jordan] and all those guys when I was a sophomore [in high school]. And then when I went up to Cleveland and played against the Cavs when I was a junior and I was like, ‘Oh … I belong. I belong.’ I knew I still had to learn and I still had to continue to get my body right, continue to learn the game and nuances.
“But I was playing against NBA guys for a long time and I was like, ‘If I get the opportunity to crack the league, if I get the opportunity to showcase what I’m able to do, the only thing that can stop me is if I don’t take care of my body. The only thing that can stop me from being the greatest or one of the greatest to ever play this game is if I do not take care of myself.’ I did take care of my body. That’s it.”
James’ dedication at health maintenance has become legendary in the sporting world.
Read more:LeBron James becomes oldest NBA player with a triple-double in Lakers' win
He is known to invest over $1.5 million annually for a comprehensive approach to keeping his body fine-tuned.
He talked about the biohacking he uses to maintain elite performances and longevity at the age of 41.
He talked about using Normatec leg compression boots, hyperbaric chambers to restore oxygen, cryotherapy, red-light therapy and any other cutting-edge technologies.
He talked about prioritizing sleep and nutrition, such as avoiding artificial sugars and fried foods.
When he missed the first 14 games this season because of sciatica, James cut back on drinking wine, one of his passions, in order to get his body back to full health.
“Obviously it’s gotten even more detailed as me and Mike have built a program,” James said. “It’s been 22 years of our program.”
More so, it has worked to the highest order for James.
For one, he has become the leading scorer in NBA history with 42,975 points.
Though his streak of being voted as a starter to the All-Star team was snapped at 21 in a row, James still extended his league record to 22 when the coaches voted him onto the Western Conference team as a reserve for the game that will be played Sunday at Intuit Dome.
Over the course of time, James said, he’s received plenty of offers to try different ways to do his therapy.
For the most part, he has said no.
“It’s all type of [crap] that is presented to you,” James said, smiling. “[People] are always trying to get you to do [crap]. But once we got the connection, it wasn’t really many people that we allowed to come and be in what we do. We had a couple of guys obviously throughout the process that helped along the way. But, nah, we knew what we wanted to do.”
When James was a young kid growing up in Akron, Ohio, and it became obvious then that he was athletic, he said his uncle, Curt James, encouraged him to start taking care of his body immediately.
His mother, Gloria James, supported him and advised James to listen to uncle Curt.
“I probably was 10, 11 years old,” James said. “I used to stretch before I went to bed and when I woke up, when I was like 10 or 11years old. My uncle Curt, my mom’s younger brother, used to make me do a 100 calf raises a day and he used to make me do 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups a day.”
James shook his head and laughed recalling those moments as a kid.
“He told me I had to get my calves stronger if I wanted to be great,” James said, smiling at the thought of those conversations from years ago. “I never knew what that meant, whatever. But, yeah, my uncle used to tell me to do that and then a good friend of mine used to always tell me to stretch before I got in the bed and after I got out of the bed when I woke up the next morning. I don’t know man. I’ve been doing this for a long time.”
At no time during all this did James know what all that advice would mean in the future.
“No, but I had people that I trusted,” James said. “I was icing after every game my rookie year. I was 18 years-old. I was icing after games when I was a high school senior, a high school junior. Like, I was lifting [weights] my senior year.”
James told a story about playing in an AAU tournament with Kendrick Perkins when he was 14 and how some of the players were sitting in the stands eating fast food.
But not James. Even then he ate right.
“They were eating McDonald’s,” James said, smiling, “and I was eating fruits.”
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Jason Kidd is the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, but he was an assistant coach with the Lakers when James led them to the 2020 NBA championship and the two of them were teammates on the 2008 USA Olympic basketball team that won the gold medal at Beijing.
Kidd has watched how James is averaging 22.0 points per game on 50.2% shooting this season, 7.1 assists and 5.8 rebounds and can’t help but marvel at how James continues to be a highly effective player with so many miles on his body.
“Physically, LeBron, he's had some injuries, but he's taken care of his body, he's always prepared himself for the marathon,” Kidd said. “But I think it's the mental side. I think that's the hardest part is to wake up and say, ‘Do I need to go play against a 20-year-old or a 19-year-old?’ He's won championships, he's been MVP, he's been the face of the league. He's a billion-dollar company.
"So, it's the mental side. Understanding that he loves competition and he loves the game of basketball. So I think for him to do it at 41 is incredible.”
When the Lakers faced Kidd’s Mavericks on Thursday night, James was back in the lab early getting his body ready for the contest and he did so about six hours before game time.
It didn’t matter that it was the last game before the weeklong All-Star break.
In James’ eyes, if you take care of your body, it will take care of you — at all times.
“Like for instance this morning. I woke up this morning, went straight downstairs, got a stretch, did a little activation, like a little small lil' lift [of weights],” James said after the game Thursday. “Then I iced after that. Then I used the Normatec to pump my legs for an hour. Then I took a nap in the hyperbaric chamber for an hour-and-a-half. Then I got in the cold tub, again, before I came here [to Crypto.com Arena]. So, I started my process here when I got here at 1:15 and prepared for a seven o’clock game. It’s just around the clock.”
And as it turned out, all his work led to yet another milestone for James.
His triple-double of 28 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds made James the oldest player in NBA history to accomplish that feat, pushing him past Karl Malone for the record.
And now comes another record appearance in an All-Star Game.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
