The Streak Is Over… But LeBron’s Greatness Isn’t

LeBron's streak ends, but his habits still rewrite history LeBron James finally did it. He scored less than 10 points, according to the Washington Post, his record streak of 1,297 straight games in double figures dating back to January 2007 and at Thursday in Toronto. At 40 years old and coming off both sciatica and a Minor foot injury, LeBron shot just 4 for 17, missed all five of his three point attempts and finished with eight points. But he also had 11 assists, including the drive to a colleague for a game winning buzzer beater. Asked why he passed instead of taking the final shot, LeBron said, just playing the game the right way. That's always been my MO. This 19 year streak shattered Michael Jordan's previous record and highlights LeBron's conditioning, discipline and durability. All all backed by years of meticulous sleep recovery and training habits. It's a stark contrast to one of my favorite former stars in the NBA, David Thompson, whose Hall of Fame talent was cut short by injuries and drug addiction. So what's the real message here? Yes, LeBron James is freakishly talented, may go on to be the greatest of all time, but it's not just talent. It is work, habit, it's ethic. It's discipline. He gets nine hours of sleep a night and takes naps. That's something any of us could do if we really made our health, our conditioning, the number one priority. Let's dig a little deeper here. So often we see stars on the field and they're doing amazing physical feats. And then we see them in commercials where they're often promoting some kind of junk food that really isn't healthy for us. And we don't really make the connection of what made them great. So often it's not just being a lot taller or a lot stronger or having innate physical talents. And certainly LeBron James has certain genetic gifts that make him a better basketball player, namely, being about a foot taller than the average person. But that alone is not why he is great. He's also great because of his habits, his daily habits. Now, maybe he could have been lazy and been like Babe Ruth and out drinking and partying and smoking for most of his career. But his career might have only been seven, eight years long. This guy's had an amazing, amazing career. I want to call out a few stats again. 12,000. Excuse me, 1297 straight games of scoring more than 10 points. That streak started when the Bush administration was still in power. It was that long. It started before there was an iPhone it's that long. So that's an amazing thing. Now, it started when he was 22. He didn't start off that in his very first year. I mean, this guy was a teenager when he went into the pros, let's not forget that. So he's now had 42,000 career points. It's the most in NBA history. So those who feel like he's the greatest of all time, he simply, he definitely has the greatest number of points. There have been those who scored more. I mean, I remember back as a kid, Will Chamberlain got 100 points sometimes, but Wilt Chamberlain did not have the lengthy career that LeBron James did. Now, Kareem Abdul Jabbar did have a long career, no doubt about it. He also has 15,000 field goals joining Kareem Abdul Jabbar. So Kareem certainly still deserves to be in the record books there. The active double digit streak leader now is Kevin Durant at 267 games. A long time before he catches up. LeBron is in his 23rd NBA season. Now, that's phenomenal at every level. To even have A job in one industry for 23 years is an accomplishment. I'm not sure I can say that. But to operate at a peak, peak level where every single year there's tons and tons of new, wildly aggressive, strong, youthful, energetic people trying to take your job, be able to stay at the top for 23 years is absolutely amazing. What I don't think gets enough attention is he is so devoted to his health, to maintaining his body. He was smart enough to realize that all the people who love him and tell him he's great and want his endorsements and want him to do TV commercials, none of them would care about him if he didn't keep his body intact so that he could operate at such a supreme level physically on the court. And that's why he gets between eight and nine hours of sleep every night and takes naps. Maybe playing in the NBA isn't the same as the NFL as far as the sheer pounding to your body, but it's still extraordinarily tough on the body. It's brutal for the body, and sleep is even more important for an elite athlete like that. But if you think that it's only for athletes, you're wrong. One of the things I noticed in working with top level CEOs, billionaires, fund managers is they also take their sleep very seriously. They take exercise, staying in shape very seriously. Maybe not to the extent of LeBron James, but it's an active, active Priority. They make time for it. Other things of interest to him, he maintains a very strict diet. Now, I don't follow his career closely enough to know if he's ever endorsed potato chips or Doritos, but I can tell you he doesn't eat that stuff. He's eating extraordinarily high quality food. He doesn't show up at the beginning of the season out of shape. Well, I really took the whole off season off and showed up 20, 30, 40 pounds overweight, the way a lot of athletes do in professional sports. No, he maintains his weight. That's good if you want to be an NBA star. It's also good if you're just an average human being and you want to live to be 80, 90, 100 rather than dying at 65. Other things he does, he uses a lot of hydration, anti inflammatory foods. He's known for experimenting, a lot of biohacking. I'm not sure that any one of those things is what keeps him alive. Cold plunges, things like that. But the fact that he's actively spending time every day doing anything and everything he can to be healthy, to rejuvenate his body after a tough game or a tough series, is one reason why he is still around at age 43 when most people injuries get them being just beat up, tired. When you rest this much, you stretch this much, you exercise this much, your body recovers much faster. And that's crucial whether you want to be a professional athlete or be an entrepreneur or CEO who has to be able to bounce back at a moment's notice if you have to fly 12 time zones away. Now, I don't bounce back quite as easily as I used to from extended travel. All the more reason I have to spend more time really investing in techniques to recover. Tonight I'm about to get on a plane from Florida to go to Doha, Qatar, and then to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. So I'm going to be a little disoriented by the time I get off the ground, but I'm going to try to follow as many good practices as LeBron would. He's probably flying private, but I'm going to try to follow as many good practices as I can so that I will really be rested and rejuvenated by the time I hit the ground. And one of my practices will be as soon as I get there, do as much exercise by walking, getting as much sunlight as possible, and then if there aren't hot tubs around, at least a hot bath and drinking tons and tons of water. Now, I can't help but contrast LeBron James career with someone I grew up really admiring. David Thompson. Now, that's a name probably most of you don't remember, but this was a guy who listed at 6 4. He was probably like six, three and a half. And he could jump up and touch, not the rim, the top of the backboard. I mean, this guy was like Superman. He was the star of the famed NC State team that won a national championship. And he was the most dynamic player I had ever seen, or most people had ever seen. We're talking about the early 70s. He did have an NBA career, and he lasted nine seasons, but he became a cocaine addict. It really brought down his level of skill. And you have to think if he had had the same just personal development habits that LeBron James, we might be having a big debate of whether David Thompson was the goat, the greatest of all time versus Michael Jordan versus LeBron James. Because in terms of sheer athleticism, talent, David Thompson was really way up. And there may be others, too, who never even got out of high school because of some bad habit or some scuffle with the law. Sadly, David Thompson's career ended after a knee injury in Studio 54 of all places. Some altercation there. But I do think that it's important to look at some of the things these high performers do. You don't have to copy all of them, but maybe you experiment with that rather than experimenting with another sugary treat for fun. So LeBron James is reported to use hyperbaric chambers, compression boots, personal trainers, chefs. Now, we can't all afford that. I understand it. But you can afford going to bed earlier at night and getting a good night sleep. So, LeBron James, maybe you didn't score 10 points earlier this week, but you're still a huge, huge success. And every single day, you seem to be making a stronger case for the idea that you are, in fact, the greatest of all time.