LeBron James knows exactly how dangerous Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can be, and after the Lakers’ second-round loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, he made it clear that the reigning MVP deserves to be protected with the same urgency as Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“If you don’t treat him the way you respect Giannis… If Giannis gets re-arrested, everybody’s talking about going back and loading up on Giannis,” James said on the latest episode of his “Mind the Game” podcast. “Get back, set the defense and load up because otherwise, you’re hitting gaps quickly and you’re on the line right away. You don’t look at Shai that way from a physical standpoint because you look at him and you’re like, well, he’s not 6’11”, he’s not as strong as Giannis, he’s not as big as Giannis.
“But then you see he’s there when you’re down. You use the big shoulder, you use the off arm, you use your speed against you when he gets you back and now you use that against you. So, if you’re not back with two guys, three guys loading the basket, loading the basketball with Shai with the ball, you’re going to hit those gaps going up or up. You’re going to get to the free throw line because now you’re off balance.
“You have to respect him the way Giannis does in the open floor and that’s the first part. Then you have to answer for yourself on the court. But, you have to do that before he starts because he’s so good.”
SGA now has two back-to-back MVPs, similar to what Giannis did in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons.
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