{"id":3521,"date":"2023-10-22T12:42:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-22T09:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/3521\/lebron-james-says-nuggets-matchup\/"},"modified":"2023-10-22T12:42:52","modified_gmt":"2023-10-22T09:42:52","slug":"lebron-james-says-nuggets-matchup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/?p=3521","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James says Nuggets matchup isn&#8217;t what motivates him"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James says Nuggets matchup isn&#8217;t what motivates him\u060c<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-meta\">\n<ul class=\"authors\">\n<li class=\"mugshot-shown\">\n<div class=\"author-img\"><\/div>\n<p>Dave McMenamin, ESPN editor<span class=\"timestamp \">October 21, 2023, 11:42 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"author-overlay\">Close<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN.\n<\/li>\n<li>Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009 to 2014, the Cavaliers from 2014 to 2018 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005 to 2009.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>EL SEGUNDO, Calif. &#8211; Five months after being eliminated from the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets and just days before starting a new season &#8211; his 21st in the NBA &#8211; against the same opponent, <a href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/3656\/2023-24-nba-milestones-anniversaries-for\/\">LeBron James<\/a> has generally had the upper hand.  road when asked about the defending champions on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I am not motivated against [who] the opponents [are] about more,&#8221; James said after one of the Lakers&#8217; final training camp practices before the regular season begins Tuesday in Denver. &#8220;I don&#8217;t need it.  I don&#8217;t mean I&#8217;m not motivated to play, because I&#8217;m motivated to compete, I like to compete with the best.  But I don&#8217;t need an individual or a team to motivate me.  I&#8217;m motivated.  I am enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>James&#8217; 20th season ended with a 40-point, 10-rebound, 9-assist performance in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.  James played all 48 minutes, but it still wasn&#8217;t enough to prevent Los Angeles from losing the game 113-111 and the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/series\/\"   title=\"series\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">series<\/a> 4-0.  The 38-year-old veteran told ESPN after the game that he would consider retiring in the offseason, with the season taking a toll on him both mentally and physically.<\/p>\n<p>The Nuggets then beat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, winning the first championship in franchise history, and took some photos in <a href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/2404\/james-harden-no-show-at-philadelphia-76ers\/\">Los Angeles<\/a> as part of their celebration tour.  Denver coach Michael Malone was introduced as &#8220;the daddy of the Lakers&#8221; during the team&#8217;s parade.  Malone, once an assistant coach to James with the Cleveland Cavaliers, also poked fun at his former player&#8217;s retirement sentiments.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline editorial float-r\" data-behavior=\"article_related\">\n<h2 class=\"editorial-title\">Editor&#8217;s Choice<\/h2>\n<p>2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cSpeaking of the Lakers, I just want you to know \u2013 this is breaking news \u2013 that I&#8217;m thinking of retiring, so don&#8217;t tell anyone,\u201d Malone said as a guest on \u201cThe Pat McAfee Show&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>James appeared to address Malone on his Instagram in June, without recognizing him by name.  &#8220;I hear you think about me so much, huh??? I mean, I guess I see why&#8230; Enjoy your light but just know that I am the SUN.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>When asked Saturday what compels him to respond to the many detractors who have targeted him over his decades-long career, and what sometimes causes him to choose silence, James vowed to bark at all world one day in the distant future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere will be a time,\u201d James said.  &#8220;When that time comes, I don&#8217;t know. I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s now or&#8230; if there will be a time. There will be a time when everyone will have it, for sure .&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For now, he wants a chance to add a fifth title to his already impressive list of achievements.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;[I am] I still see the Larry O\u2019Brien Trophy in my mind daily,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n<p>Lakers coach Darvin Ham said this <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/tag\/week\/\"   title=\"week\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\">week<\/a> that he thinks eight teams are &#8220;legitimate contenders&#8221; this season and &#8220;I like our chances better than anyone&#8217;s.<\/p>\n<p>James echoed his coach&#8217;s confidence but wouldn&#8217;t put Los Angeles among the rest of the pack.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe could be a really, really good team,\u201d James said.  He added: &#8220;I don&#8217;t even think about June. It&#8217;s too precious &#8211; the game is too precious &#8211; and I don&#8217;t play with the basketball gods like that. I don&#8217;t take it for granted.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Ham finally named a fifth starter for the opener, revealing that Taurean Prince will join James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves and D&#8217;Angelo Russell with the first unit.  Jarred Vanderbilt, who played the role last season, had his left heel soreness reevaluated Friday and participated in practice on a limited basis.  Vanderbilt is listed as day-to-day by the team, and Ham said &#8220;in all likelihood&#8221; he won&#8217;t be available against Denver.<\/p>\n<p>As Vanderbilt continues to improve, Los Angeles will at least have its leader back at 100 percent, after James missed 27 games last season with a right foot injury.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt took a few months, but when I was able to get back to training, I was able to do some things that I wasn&#8217;t able to do throughout the playoffs, probably even before the playoffs,\u201d James said about his off-season rehabilitation.  &#8220;My workouts started to improve, my wind started to improve, my fast twitches started to improve. I didn&#8217;t have to think about it as much.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s great to have that feeling, you just have to get your motor back.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LeBron James says Nuggets matchup isn&#8217;t what motivates him\u060c Dave McMenamin, ESPN editorOctober 21, 2023, 11:42 p.m. Close Lakers and NBA reporter for ESPN. Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009 to 2014, the Cavaliers from 2014 to 2018 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005 to 2009. EL SEGUNDO, Calif. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3522,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[968,1252,3157,1596,3158,837],"class_list":["post-3521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-sports","tag-isnt","tag-james","tag-lebron","tag-matchup","tag-motivates","tag-nuggets"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3521"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3521\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3523,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3521\/revisions\/3523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wikidollar.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}