LeBron James‘ Los Angeles Lakers rallied to defeat the San Antonio Spurs at Staples Center 121-113.
The 33-year-old scored 42 points including 20 in the fourth quarter. The Lakers were eight points down with under nine minutes to play before James inspired the comeback.
After the game, James was asked about what fuelled his performance and whether it was the recent talk about him – Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Kevin Durant have all had their fair share to say.
“No, for what? I’m past the [taking things] personal stage,” James said.
“I can do whatever. I can have a huge workload, I can have a not so huge workload – It doesn’t matter for me.
“What’s most important is seeing my teammates make huge shots in the fourth quarter. That’s what’s most important to me. I can care less about the narrative about me. It doesn’t matter. I’m a staple in this game.”
Kevin Durant recently made comments that fans and media alike thought would possibly anger James – but James refused to comment on the situation because he wasn’t aware of the context it was said in.
Durant had said: “So much hype comes from being around LeBron from other people.
“He has so many fanboys in the media. Even the beat writers just fawn over him. I’m like, we’re playing basketball here, and it’s not even about basketball at certain points.
“So I get why anyone wouldn’t want to be in that environment because it’s toxic. Especially when the attention is b***s*** attention, fluff.”
Durant was quick reiterate that none of this was down to James himself.
“It’s not LeBron’s fault at all — it’s just the fact you have so many groupies in the media that love to hang on every word. Just get out of the way and let us play basketball.”
When asked about KD’s comments, James remained coy.
“I would love to see the whole transcript of what was asked of him, the context it was asked of him, why it was asked and the whole thing,” James said.
“So I’m not gonna comment on it because I don’t know the whole thing. That would be stupid on my part. I’m a veteran.”
James’ Lakers will now head San Antonio for another game against the Spurs on Saturday and will stay on the road to play the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.