Despite being one of the greatest basketball players of all time, there was a time where LeBron James was being questioned for not having won a ring. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar said he realized after the 2011 NBA Finals, that he had to focus more on his mental health. This was all while he was a member of the Miami Heat.
James told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that the Heat loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 finals took a serious mental toll on his health. “The level of scrutiny that I was dealing with, and how I got out of my comfort zone. I lost my love for the game,” he said.
James also says that he took on the role of NBA villain after he announced that he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers to join the Heat during a nationally televised special called “The Decision.” James then said, a year after, that he handled the situation poorly when he switched teams.
“If I could look back on it I would probably change a lot of it. The fact of having a whole TV special, and people getting the opportunity to watch me make a decision on where I wanted to play, I probably would change that. Because I can now look and see if the shoe was on the other foot and I was a fan, and I was very passionate about one player, and he decided to leave, I would be upset too about the way he handled it,” he said.
In order to work on his mental health, James has partnered with Calm to help inspire mental fitness. Salute to LeBron on getting the neecessary help he needed at that time in his life.
