Mario Chalmers, a former Miami Heat guard and teammate of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, shared an interesting superstition that James has before games.
According to Chalmers, James lays out his jersey on the floor before the game, and nobody is allowed to step over it.
Before every game, LeBron James lays his jersey on the floor and no one is allowed to step over it
If someone steps over it, he will have the equipment manager get him a brand-new jersey, shorts, tights, headband, armband, and socks 😅
(🎥 @playmaker / https://t.co/IYIyShL71o) pic.twitter.com/WDeJuhyWu2
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 27, 2024
“That man will lay his whole outfit out on the floor for the game and make sure everybody walks around it,” Chalmers said.
Another one of James’ former teammates with the Lakers – Thomas Bryant (who currently plays for Miami) – chimed in on Chalmers’ comments.
“You better walk around it,” Bryant said. “Don’t walk over it.”
Chalmers then shared a story of a time where James’ jersey was stepped over and how the four-time champion reacted.
“One time, the media walked over the jersey, he snapped,” Chalmers said. “And he made the equipment man go get him a whole new jersey, shorts, tights, headband, arm band, socks and laid it right back out.”
Chalmers called James’ ritual an “OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) superstition.”
Apparently, that isn’t the only thing that James’ former teammates noticed about him. Bryant shared another story about a player that almost sat in James’ seat and how the teammate was quickly told to leave the chair for the 20-time All-Star.
“He has a seat right when you talk into the gym,” Bryant said. “And it was funny – one of the teammates tryna sit there – ‘Ay, ay, ay, ay, no, no, no no. Don’t sit there. That’s Bron’s seat. Sit in the other seat.’”
While these superstitions may be weird to some, James clearly has put together an extremely successful career while living by them.
The four-time NBA Finals MVP has become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and he’s still playing at an insanely high level in his 21st season in the league. The Lakers forward turned 39 this season, but he’s still averaging 25.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 7.9 assists per game while shooting 52.4 percent from the field and 40.1 percent from 3-point range.
The only other time that James shot over 40 percent from 3 in his NBA career came in the 2012-13 season with Miami.
James’ current numbers just go to show that his longevity is one of a kind, and it’s possible that his superstitions help keep him going throughout an NBA season.
Now that James has been in the league for so long, allowing his superstition to circulate through different locker rooms, his former teammates – like Bryant and Chalmers – clearly know that there is protocol in place when playing with one of the game’s greatest players.
