Golf is driving the success for LeBron James and the Lakers

During a recent road trip in Orlando, LeBron James was playing golf when his ball rolled dangerously close to a body of water. An alligator started swimming towards him. James cautiously crouched down and grabbed the ball.”I ain’t playing that s—t,” he said. “Hell no.”

A week later, as James stood by his locker in Los Angeles after talking to the media, a reporter asked him if he was worried the alligator was going to eat him.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “The alligator should’ve been worried about me eating him.”

James, who’s arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time, has found a new way to channel his competitive drive: Golf. 

He regularly talks about the sport. He’s constantly watching it. As he transitions into the sunset of his basketball career, his new obsession is slower, more technical and requires a completely different set of mental and physical skills than the one he has mastered over his unprecedented 23 NBA seasons.

“I told myself when I turned 40, I wanted to do something that…was maybe uncomfortable or I’ve never done in my life before,” James said after finishing with his third triple-double of the season with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in the Lakers’ 120-101 win over the Wizards on Monday. “I never played golf in my life before.”

James, who turned 41 in December, is now a full-fledged devotee to the sport. 

Back in January, when he described his incredibly rigorous game-day routine, everything that wasn’t centered around readying his body for tipoff was devoted to golf. 

He played PGA EA as he Normateced his legs for 45 minutes. He watched TPG on TV as he did activation exercises, treatment, rehab, stretching and lifting. 

“It’s something that I’ve really put a lot of time in,” James said. “I mean, I love the sport. I appreciate the sport. I love how difficult it is. And I love the challenge. So I look forward to just putting more work in over the course of however long it takes me. But right now I’m having a hell of a time playing it.”

James’ newfound passion has also become a way for the Lakers to build chemistry, helping fuel a 15-2 run.

The Lakers have gone golfing together multiple times this season. In Orlando last week, James played alongside Austin Reaves, Luke Kennard and Luka Doncic, who all teamed up against Lakers’ coaches and trainers.

“The best thing about what we did in Orlando is that we beat the s–t out of the coaches,” James said. “And that was great.”

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Lakers coach JJ Redick said the sport has helped bring the team together.

“It’s a good team-bonding thing,” Redick said. “For our team, it’s really hard in LA to, like, bond. ‘You live in Manhattan Beach, you live in Calabasas, you live in the Westside.’ You’re hours away, sometimes, from your teammates.

“Finding tee times, being with each other for four hours where you can shoot the s–t and not have to be in a high-pressure moment or on a team bus and kind of be away from the facility, I think it’s great.”

The Lakers have been rolling and are in third place in the West. But on the golf course, they have varying skill levels. 

Reaves is a talented golfer. Kennard described him as “a pro, basically.”

Doncic is relatively new to golf, but apparently he’s a quick study. Reaves recently joked that he let Doncic win a hole in Orlando so the superstar could be in a good headspace to have another 40-point performance. Of course, Reaves then jokingly took a shot at his buddy. 

“I rode in the cart with Luka for about five hours, so y’all can feel sorry for me,” Reaves said. 

As for James, his 6-foot-9, 250-pound frame helped him become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer as well as a four-time champion and four-time MVP. But on the golf course, his build is both a blessing and a curse. 

“It’s impressive what he can do,” Kennard said of James. “Obviously, he’s got the strength and the power to hit far and just the control. It’s tough being like a tall, tall guy, just to play golf is pretty tough. So, you know, you can tell he’s been working at it, for sure. He hit some big-time putts for us to beat the coaches pretty well. It was good.”

James is hooked. 

He spends his off-days under the sun. It’s a mental reset. It’s a challenge. When he’s playing golf, he’s not under the prying eyes of millions with the expectations of the world on his shoulders. He’s just another 40-something-year-old working on his swing. 

“I never believed in the bug,” James said. “People always talk about the golf bug. I never believed in it.”

Well, he has it.

Golf is an outlet. It’s meditative. It’s a way for him to channel his incomparable discipline that has allowed him to become the face of the NBA for two decades. 

It’s also a way for him to just let go. To spend time with his teammates, friends and loved ones. 

A reporter asked him if he could pick any two people to golf alongside, who would they be? Former President Barack Obama? Tiger Woods?

James shook his head. He then named his sons, Bronny and Bryce. 

For James, golf has become his passion. And for the Lakers, it has become their secret sauce this season. 

It was all because of a decision James made on his 40th birthday. 

Instead of lamenting that his basketball career was soon coming to an end, he decided to expand his universe. 

“It was [golf] and chess,” he said. “I’ve never played chess as well, so that would be next. But right now I’m locked in on golf.”