Playing in front of these 7 celebrities brings out the best in LeBron James
Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James plays his best in front of other stars.
An entertaining piece proffered up by Justin Tinsley of ESPN’s The Undefeated and ESPN’s Stats & Info’s visual illustration of the information in that article have given fans the answer to the question they’ve always wondered about Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James (light on the sarcasm, heavy on the humor).
Which celebrities does James play best in front of?
In Tinsley’s piece, the following list of seven stars have drawn out the best from The King: Diddy, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Drake, Usher and Jack Nicholson.
Much respect to @ESPNStatsInfo for these visuals for my piece today. Had more fun than I’d care to admit doing the research for this: https://t.co/Y8h528PQ7T pic.twitter.com/zbDNfF3Soa
— JustinTinsley (@JustinTinsley) March 9, 2018
When playing in front of each of these celebrities, James has a higher points per game average than his career average (27.1 points per game).
When Usher (7.9 rebounds per game), Diddy (8.0 rebounds per game), Rihanna (8.1 rebounds per game) and Drake (8.7 rebounds per game) are in town, James has been much more aggressive on the glass (James averages 7.3 rebounds per game for his career).
When Diddy (7.7 assists per game) and Usher (7.9 assists per game) are in his line of sight, James steps up his facilitating (James averages 7.1 assists per game for his career).
When Diddy (55.4 percent from the field) and Jack Nicholson (55.4 percent from the field) are sitting courtside, James shoots a far higher percentage from the field than his career shooting numbers (50.3 percent from the field).
All things considered, it seems like Diddy brings out the absolute best from James but with Diddy only appearing in six of James’ games, it could be Jay-Z (who has appeared in 30 of James’ games) who brings out the fire in James when he sits courtside.
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Diddy, widely known for his work with Bad Boy Records, the Sean John clothing line and Combs Enterprises, hasn’t been seen with James out in public since he and his significant other, Cassie, were seen seated next to James and his wife, high school sweetheart Savannah Brinson, at boxer Floyd Mayweather’s infamous boxing match against martial artist Connor McGregor.
Long have the relationships between James and rap moguls like Jay-Z and Drake been chronicled, as has the seeming infatuation pop star darling Rihanna has for James.
https://twitter.com/LeddieBlaq/status/959458609485709312
Beyonce, as we know, is a married woman. So we won’t say that she does but it does seem like even she has been seen giving James a look of adulation.
In this life just Get yourself a girl that looks at you the same way Beyonce looks at Lebron🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/8XF6hbquP7
— call•me•munya (@andrew_gonese) February 2, 2018
The evidence is conclusive though, of this one fact:
James steps up his game when the stars are in town.
He also steps it up in the NBA Finals and clutch moments so it’s safe to say that King James does his best work when the lights are their brightest.
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*LeBron James’ career averages can be found at www.basketball-reference.com