Lebron James

LeBron James awed the entire basketball world on Thursday night with an historic performance. He posted 41 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists (28-7-6 in the second half) to lead the Cavaliers past the Pacers in Game 3 after they trailed by as many as 26 points on the road.

But one reporter decided to ask King James an off-beat question about Kendrick Lamar’s new album Damn, which dropped April 14.

That’s a reasonable thing to ask LeBron before the game, but I’m pretty sure there were some more important things to talk about after this game. Like how he joined Charles Barkley as the only players since 1984 to post 40-10-10 with less than five turnovers in a playoff game. Or how no Cavs player had ever put up 28 points, six rebounds, seven assists and no turnovers in a playoff game, and then James did that in the second half alone.

Even though the question was a bit silly, James still gave a very thoughtful answer about Lamar and his work:

“The guy’s an unbelievable talent. His wordplay and his lyrics is unbelievable. And it hit home for me at times because I was a kid that grew up in the inner city, and his story of the notion of you either play basketball or sell drugs or that’s it. There’s no out. You know, you become a statistic. As an African-American kid growing up in the inner city, there’s no — they don’t believe that you can get out and become something. So that’s why I’m able to relate to a lot of his lyrics and relate to a lot of his stories. He’s an unbelievable artist, unbelievable person, and I’m glad that he’s able to put those words onto a track.”

At least the reporter got a good quote.

About Jesse Kramer

Jesse is a writer and editor for The Comeback. He has also worked for SI.com and runs The Catch and Shoot, a college basketball website based in Chicago. He is a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow Jesse on Twitter @Jesse_Kramer.