Getty LeBron James with Team USA at the Paris Olympics on August 10.
It’s not often that LeBron James chimes in on the happenings of the NFL, but when he does, people pay attention. His message to Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers speaks volumes.
James seemingly threw shade at the Panthers, who’ve benched Young in favor of veteran Andy Dalton after two games.
Bryce Young hold ya head Young 🤴🏾!! Rooting for you and know this ain’t on you! Continue to put the work in and it shall prevail! 🙏🏾🫡👑
“Bryce Young hold ya head Young [king emoji]!!,” read the September 17 tweet. “Rooting for you and know this ain’t on you! Continue to put the work in and it shall prevail!”
Young was the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. He’s underperformed for a Panthers team that’s 3-18 since.
James clearly thinks it’s the wrong decision by Carolina. And as a former first overall pick himself, he understands the struggles of acclimating to the professional level.
Young is represented by Creative Arts Agency, not Klutch Sports. So it appears James affinity for the 23-year-old isn’t a byproduct of mutual business interests.
LeBron James Ranked 8th in Top-100 List
James is nearing the end of his NBA career. That’s nothing he’s been shy about.
But the 39-year-old is still at the top of the game, as evident by CBS Sports latest Top-100 player rankings, published on September 17.
An expert panel of 10 voted James as the 8th-best player in the NBA entering next season.
“Sure, it’s unreasonable to expect the impending quadragenarian to be the NBA’s best player over the course of an 82-game season anymore, but make no mistake, in a smaller sample, there still might not be a single player in all of basketball that inspires more fear in his opponents than LeBron James,” Sam Quinn of CBS Sports wrote. “It’s not clear how many MVP awards of any variety are still left in his aging body, but when he needs to, he can still summon all of the skill and ferocity that won him his first.”
It’s actually a climb up the rankings or James, who was ranked 12th in the same column ahead of last season.
The 20-time All-Star averaged 25.7 points, 8.3 assists, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 71 regular-season appearances with the Los Angeles Lakers. But a disappointing finish to the year didn’t sour the opinions of James’ longevity.
Austin Reaves Tabbed Laker with ‘Most to Prove’
As the Lakers look to maximize the final years of James’ career, they’ll need his supporting cast to step up, too.
In a September 17 column for Bleacher Report, Zach Buckley wrote that it’s fourth-year guard Austin Reaves who has the most to prove.
“The Lakers were pretty meh last season, needing the play-in tournament to secure their postseason spot and then getting knocked out of the first round in five games,” Buckley wrote. “And that was with Anthony Davis playing the most games of his career (76) and LeBron James playing his most games as in L.A. (71). With virtually the same roster in place, the Lakers could struggle to separate themselves from the West’s middle class, unless Reaves can engineer that leap year folks hoped to see last season.”
Reaves averaged 15.9 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.3 rebounds in 82 regular-season appearances for Los Angeles last year.
But the Lakers were a better team with the 26-year-old off the court.
According to Cleaning the Glass, in 5439 possessions with Reaves on the court, Los Angeles was outscored by 0.5 points per 100 possessions. With him off the court, the Lakers outscored opponents by 6.5 points per in 2560 possessions.
If they’re to make another NBA Finals run with James still in purple and gold, Los Angeles needs Reaves to take another leap.
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LeBron James Throws Shade at Carolina Panthers in Message to Bryce Young