Ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Nike delivered a powerful message from LeBron James. In the video, a close-up of LeBron is shown, his eyes closed. He appears to be in a state of deep, relaxed concentration. A slow pull-in zooms closer on James' face and he begins speaking over the advertisement.
“You never get used to the pressure. You just learn to embrace it. Expectations aren't a burden. They're a privilege. Because it could be worse. No one could expect anything at all.”
A large red text overlay states, “WINNING ISN'T FOR EVERYONE,” and a red Nike swoosh flashes before the ad ends.
“You never get used to pressure. You just learn to embrace it. Expectations aren’t a burden, they’re a privilege.”
The new LeBron James Nike commercial is FIRE 🔥👑
(via @nikebasketball)pic.twitter.com/9GI4kshd8j— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 22, 2024
The Los Angeles Lakers are tied for 11th on FanDuel's NBA Championship 2024-25 winner odds at +4000.
What are the Lakers' expectations for the 2024-25 season?
ClutchPoints' senior NBA reporter Brett Siegel has the Los Angeles Lakers ranked at No. 17 in his Power Rankings, ninth among Western Conference teams. Expectations have likely never been so low for a LeBron James-led team. Is James even the best player on the Lakers? Most don't view it that way. The Ringer ranked Anthony Davis as the ninth-best player in the NBA, with James behind him at No. 10.
In an interview with ClutchPoints' DJ Siddiqi, Lakers point guard D'Angelo Russell discussed his goals for the upcoming season.
“As far as for me, I have no objectives for myself,” says Russell. “I just want to be healthy for this season. I think for our team, if we can take one game at a time, with the preparation of our coaching staff and the guys that we have, I think we'll be in a good place by the time the postseason rolls around.”
It's not all business. LeBron shared a prank video with Bronny on social media.
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Do the Lakers have enough shooting around Davis and James, especially from three-point range? Davis recently joked that he was going to shoot 15 threes per game.
“I shoot a lot of them in practice. At the end of one practice, he [JJ Redick] was in front of the group. He said you shoot them in practice but we need you to shoot them in the games. After I shot nine in Phoenix. . .he said it again,” Davis said. “He’s constantly on me, and not just him, D’Lo, AR, Bron, everybody. They tell me to shoot more, I’m gonna let it fly. I might shoot 15 this season.”
We'll soon find out how legit the Lakers are this season.
