NBA Stars: LeBron James — The Heatles

November 29, 2013

The scene in the visitors’ locker room at Air Canada Centre could be best described as controlled chaos. The back-to-back defending champion Miami Heat were in Toronto to face the Raptors. I was covering my second NBA game and standing among the pack of reporters in the middle of the room as pregame preparation unfolded around us.

Ray Allen, who hit one of the biggest shots in NBA history in Game 6 of the NBA Finals a few months earlier, walked by the crowd completely unbothered. Chris Bosh, a former Raptors player and perennial All-Star, exchanged pleasantries with a few Toronto reporters but otherwise was left alone to eat an orange at his locker toward the back of the room.

Player seating in NBA locker rooms is purposeful, and when I covered games, I was always curious to see how the seating chart would line up for road teams because there is usually a clear hierarchy.

For the Heat, there were no surprises. LeBron James was assigned the No. 1 locker, which was to the immediate right of the entrance. On the left side of the entrance is the No. 2 locker, which was for Dwyane Wade. 

The main difference is that these two lockers are bigger than the others, and in Toronto, their placement provides the media with more space for availabilities. 

The locker room had been open to media for a few minutes when James came out from the players only area holding a portable speaker that was blaring music. All the reporters and camera people I was standing with shuffled out of the way so he could access his locker. He set the speaker on the top shelf, rearranged a few items and then turned around and sat down. 

Immediately, the large majority of that media horde closed in around him. I had no real reason to nudge my way into the scrum, so I observed it from a few steps back.

James had a strong rapport with the reporters who covered him consistently. He addressed them by their names and gave thoughtful answers to the questions he received. 

There was still an overwhelming intensity to the interaction, though, because of the number of people surrounding him and that almost anything James said could become the top headline in sports. 

While the James scrum was still going on, Wade sauntered over to his locker. I joined the smaller group that formed to speak to him. Wade was engaging, perhaps in part because he knew he was getting off easy due to all the attention on James. I asked him a rather basic question about head coach Erik Spoelstra’s role in developing the Heat’s transformative offence.

Here were the Heat’s two superstars in their fourth season since James’ decision to sign with Miami as a free agent rocked the league. They had endured the tumult that came with the expectations of that decision, and had seemingly becomecomfortable with at least this aspect of the circus that followed them.

That night against the Raptors, James scored 27 points and Wade added 22 to extend the Heat’s winning streak to nine games. At that point, it felt like the good times would go on forever, but it was ultimately James’ final season in Miami after the Heat lost in the NBA Finals to the San Antonio Spurs.

Even if it was just for one game toward the end of the run, it was a thrill to see such a compelling team up close.