LeBron James admitted Wednesday he was wrong about something he said recently, only his NSFW sound bite on the matter made things even more interesting.
The Los Angeles Lakers star appeared on Travis and Jason Kelce’s New Heights podcast, and the three athletes talked like old friends sitting around the pub. Jason Kelce even gave LeBron an exaggerated introduction, dramatically announcing all of his many achievements, before calling his name and concluding by tossing a huge cloud of chalk (or maybe flour?) in the air, as is James’ custom before games.
“Jason, that might have been the greatest introduction of all time, followed at the end by the powder,” James said
A few minutes later, Jason Kelce brought up TV ratings for the NFL and NBA games on Christmas Day. Recall that after the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Golden State Warriors that night, James boasted, “I love the NFL, but Christmas is our day.”
The TV ratings painted a different picture, with the NFL predictably dominating ratings. The NBA did post impressive Christmas ratings as well, just not at the scale of the NFL.
Jason Kelce seemed eager to jab James with that comparison.
“Who owns Christmas?” he asked, before restating James’ “Christmas is our day” boast.
“I saw the f****** numbers after the fact — you guys kicked our ass, OK?” James said. “From a viewership standpoint you all kicked our ass. The games weren’t as great as they should have been but when you have f****** Beyoncé out there.”
Bron was defending the NBA, but even he knows who really owns Christmas pic.twitter.com/806qpgU9yd
— New Heights (@newheightshow) January 15, 2025
James talked about several other topics with the Kelce brothers, including the Cleveland Cavaliers’ success. Jason Kelce then mentioned James’ high school football career, and raised the question that was such a hot topic a while back: “What is easier to do, an NFL player going to the NBA, or an NBA player going to the NFL?”
“This is a great debate,” James said. “I want to say that I think it’s easier for a basketball player to try NFL over the NFL player trying to get into the NBA. … I know we got some great athletes (in the NFL).”
James then went on to say he thought Russell Westbrook or Anthony Edwards might be able to make the easiest transition into the NFL.
“I think Russ would be an unbelievable strong safety or free safety … he comes with that natural aggression.”
Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior WriterJan 15, 2025, 11:13 PM ETCloseCollege football reporter; joined ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.Tennessee d
By ASSOCIATED PRESS and ISABEL BALDWIN Published: 03:55 GMT, 16 January 2025 | Updated: 04:17 GMT, 16 January 2025
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