Despite being two of the faces of the NBA over most of the last 10 years, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo had gone some time since playing a meaningful game against one another.
While they’ve often squared off in the All-Star game as leading vote-getters, their last game donning Lakers and Bucks jerseys came in December of 2022. Just over three years later, the two squared off on Friday and Giannis wasn’t going to let their potential final meeting pass without a memento.
After the game, the Greek
Freak received quite the gift from LeBron in the form of his signed jersey.
“I think he’s a blueprint for every athlete,” Giannis said of LeBron. “Not just a basketball athlete. Be able to be consistent for 23 years, available, be a winner, lead by example is incredible. Any opportunity I have to be around greatness and compete against greatness, I will always take it. I never take it for granted.
“I have the utmost respect for him and his family and the way he’s carried himself for 23 years. Like I said, I missed going against him. I think it brings the best out of me as a player. He’s one of the guys I definitely look up to on the court and off the court.”
Once regular foes in the Eastern Conference, injuries have limited the match-ups between the two in recent seasons. Between the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, Giannis and LeBron played three times in 2022. But a lot of time passed between games.
Now, LeBron is clearly on the tail end of his career. You can hardly blame Giannis, then, for seeking a momento from their potential final game, something he also acknowledged postgame while discussing why LeBron is someone he respects on and off the court.
“You never know. It might our last game against one another,” Giannis said. “I hadn’t played him since 2022. He had, I think, a couple of injuries in that time. I had the opportunity in 2026, four years later, to play against him. So I just asked him, I said, ‘Hey, can I have a jersey?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, that’s yours.‘
“I think he has respect for me but I definitely have a lot of respect for him. Every time I go against him…obviously I’m going to go hard. He knows that. Off the court, whenever I embrace him, he knows I have the utmost respect for him and what he’s accomplished in his 23-year career because this is year 13 for me and I kind of understand now how hard it is to be consistent and available. It’s not easy, right. It’s definitely not easy. I can see how hard my journey has been. I can imagine how hard his journey has been so it’s always going to be respect.”
It’s a very cool moment and a very cool gift for Giannis. Hopefully, this is a convincing part of the recruiting pitch to have him come join Luka Dončić and the Lakers.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
