LeBron James endorses JJ Redick's locker room comments following Deion Sanders' critique of Joel Embiid ducking Nikola Jokic
Throughout his 20 seasons in the NBA, LeBron James has molded himself into one of the best leaders the league has ever seen. This is brought by his strong locker room presence and the experience he has gathered over the years.
When it comes to the locker room, James considers it sacred the same way as NBA sharpshooter JJ Redick. James posted JJ Redick's comments on his Instagram story in agreement with his stance on Sander's viral comments.
"Couldn't have said it better," James said. "Straight facts."
From LeBron James and JJ Redick's point of view, he considers locker room discussions as private and shouldn't be recorded or even posted on social media. Sanders' comments acted as a motivational speech for his team as he was pointing out how players should remain competitive against other elite matchups on their schedule.
His comments instantly became viral as he made Joel Embiid's March 28 absence an example and how he wanted to see that matchup with Nikola Jokic just as much as the fans did.
Prior to LeBron James, Joel Embiid sat out a March 28 game last season against Nikola Jokic
When it comes to the NBA, load management has been done by the league to better protect their players from injuries or severe injuries. It's also done to better prolong their players' active status over the course of an 82-game season, just in time to be made available in the playoffs.
This was the case for Joel Embiid's absence in the March 28 regular season game against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. It was reported that Embiid sat out the game due to a sore right calf, as per The Associated Press' Arnie Stapleton.
The Nuggets ended up winning the ball game with a score of 116-111. Nikola Jokic led the way for Denver as he put up 25 points (8-of-11 shooting), 17 rebounds, and 12 assists.
At the time, former 76ers coach Doc Rivers talked about his star player's absence.
"He's been complaining about it," Rivers said. "Today in shootaround he just didn't like the way he was moving and it was not a hard decision for us."
Despite the injury being the reason that held Embiid back from playing, the Sixers star received numerous criticisms for his absence, including one from Deion Sanders. This is the same way with how LeBron James is treated whenever he sat out games.
Recently, James has made the decision to sit out the LA Lakers 2023 preseason opener on Oct. 7 against the Golden State Warriors.