New story at The Ringer: LeBron, Kareem, and the Secrets to Greatness
A story about what it means to be lifelong students of the game
Hey everyone! Tonight is a historic night. Entering Tuesday night’s game, LeBron James is just 36 points shy of passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA’s all-time scoring record. Abdul-Jabbar (38,387 points) had set the previous mark on April 5, 1984, surpassing Wilt Chamberlain.
Many will compare James to Abdul-Jabbar, debating who was better, who would dominate in each other’s era, and who truly is the greatest of all time and poring over their differences, which are vast. But I was interested in something else: I wanted to know, what if we looked at what makes these two phenomenal athletes similar? What exists within each of them that allowed them to reach such a milestone? I wrote a feature for The Ringer about one crucial overlap between the two men: their lifelong passion for learning. They were true students of the game. They never gave in to the hype; they always thought they could get better. They listened. They studied. They were never too big-time, or too old, to learn something new. They realized their bodies would age but they could always sharpen their minds, evolving their skill sets as the seasons passed. As dominant and self-assured as they were, they retained a certain humility, one that ultimately aided their longevity.
I interviewed as many people as I could that played with LeBron and Kareem to get new anecdotes. One of my favorite interviews was with Jeff Green, who played with James on the Cavs. His quote stands out to me in the piece as really the crux of what this story is about: “I always think of [James] like a high school kid or a college kid, wanting to learn as much as possible, but he’s doing it 20 years in, and that’s what makes him so great,” Green says. “He’s never ashamed to ask questions or to reveal that he’s still learning this game.”
I hope you enjoy it! Please share the story if you can, here and on Twitter @MirinFader, and on Instagram (lol, @MirinFader, yes I have joined about a decade late). I’ll leave you with a beautiful quote from Laura Warrell’s new book “Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm.”) I’ve been feeling overwhelmed this week and when I got to this page, something in me settled. Remembered what was important. Why I write.
The passage begins: "I'll be fifty in November."
"You ain't bothered?"
"Why would I be? It's only time."
"Things can still happen, right?"
"Things are always happening."
"But is it good? You all right with how everything played out?"
"That's not what I care about," Raquel said, impatient. "I live how I want, I do things I like to do. I don't worry about the world or Armageddon or what I thought was meant to happen. I just rock, man. Sometimes when the monsters need to come out and play, I go onstage and let them free. People listen sometimes. I just play, that's what I do. Just rock, man. Just go, go, go" (215).