LeBron James had a big task ahead of him going into the 2015 NBA Finals. ‘The King’ was going into the series without Kevin Love and after game 1, Kyrie Irving suffered a season ending injury, so it was LeBron against the world. Unfortunately, The King fell victim to the seemingly unstoppable Golden State Warriors.
James used the opportunity to find some hidden motivation and he revealed there was something beyond the surface driving him to do better. No one knew exactly what it was. Some speculated it was the sudden emergence of Stephen Curry, others thought it was someone close to him talking about what he needed to do better for the city.
Over the last year, James had been fighting to bring that elusive first title to his city of Cleveland and help them capture the championship that he promised for his city. Last night, James delivered on his promise, capturing the 2016 NBA championship and winning the 2016 NBA Finals MVP in the process.
When it was time to speak to the media, LeBron was asked about the motivation but elected to speak on it at a later time.
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin said the following while talking to ‘The Undefeated’, revealing it was something a member of the Miami Heat organization said to him.
Due to popular demand: the full clip of @mcten and @MikeWiseguy discussing Lebron James's "secret motivation" to winhttps://t.co/z7Vjtwzj7m
— The Undefeated (@TheUndefeated) June 20, 2016
He went on to add the following, also scribed by McMenamin.
“When I decided to leave Miami — I’m not going to name any names, I can’t do that — but there were some people that I trusted and built relationships with in those four years [who] told me I was making the biggest mistake of my career,” James told ESPN.com, just outside the Raiders locker room.
“And that s— hurt me. And I know it was an emotional time that they told me that because I was leaving. They just told me it was the biggest mistake I was making in my career. And that right there was my motivation.”
