Tag: NBA Season 2020-21

LeBron joked to Barack Obama that he will ‘cherrypick’ in early season

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James recently had Barack Obama on a new ‘The Shop’ and joked about how he will approach the early season.

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has been busy with plenty of off-court pursuits since before the season ended, which continued this weekend when he hosted 44th President of the United States Barack Obama with him and Maverick Carter on the latest episode of ‘The Shop.’ The crux of the conversation was centered on Tuesday’s election and the importance of voting, which are the reasons why James and Carter started the advocacy group, ‘More Than A Vote.’ The episode included James sharing that this election was the first time his mother, Gloria, voted.

But of course, with Obama being perhaps the country’s most famous NBA fan, they had to talk a little hoop. Carter lobbed up a statement that the NBA season will start soon and Obama also served up a joke that he won’t get back on defense, which led to LeBron saying he would only “cherry-pick” in the first part of the season. The exchange was transcribed by SB Nation’s Harrison Faigen.

Carter: LeBron, the season is coming up, you got 10 more years? Five more years? You looked like you’ve got about five to 10 the last time we saw you on the court.”

Obama: You know what though? He’s definitely gonna have some minutes restrictions. I’m not sure he’s getting back on D the first half of the season.

LeBron: (laughing) The first half of the season, I’m cherry-picking the whole first half of the season (laughs).

Obama: Hey, you’ve got to save yourself for when it counts.

LeBron: Yes sir.

So whether the season starts in December like the NBA wants or in mid-January when it’s reported the players want to start, all jokes aside, LeBron is going to get the engine going with a slow burn.

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NBA proposing 50-game season if players want to start in Mid-January

Marc Stein of the New York Times reported on Friday that the NBA wants to avoid competing with the Olympics in Tokyo.

The NBA was hoping to make a decision today about modifications to the collective bargaining agreement and the plan for the 2020-21 season. The league had proposed a 70-72 game season starting almost immediately on Dec. 22, with camp starting a month before that, but players had reportedly pushed back on that idea and preferred a start in mid-January.

On Friday, the league countered with what they see as an undesirable conflict with the Tokyo Olympics, scheduled to start on July 23, which involves significantly fewer games, which means significantly less money, according to Marc Stein of the New York Times. The Olympics, being a major worldwide sporting event that often draws the attention of casual fans, is  clearly something the league does not want to compete with.

Obviously, Olympic basketball is not as much of a concern here, because the best players will be playing in the NBA Finals that would potentially start just a few weeks before the Olympics. With the NBA also coming to terms with the fact that there won’t be fans, maximizing what they can from the game as a television product is likely their biggest priority.

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