Transcription
Well, LeBron James has built virtually his entire legacy on this perceived notion that we have never seen anyone playing at this high of a level at this stage of a career. That one right there made me the greatest player of all time, as he sets to enter his 23rd NBA season, a year in which he will turn 41 years old in December of.
And it has been through this astronomical amount of games he has played and the unparalleled durability he has experienced which has allowed James to amass a near insurmountable level of counting statistics as he has now widened his points gap over number two on that all-time list Kareem Abdul Jabar by nearly 4,000 points in counting. And since despite playing nearly 10 more full seasons than Michael Jordan and still coming up laughably short of his career resume bullet points, the totality of any semblance of a GOAT case LeBron does have to offer has been constructed totally on the merit of his longevity and bulk counting stats that he has accumulated along the way.
But with more and more mounting steroid commentary swirling around James, could the shoddy house of cards in which his entire legacy has been constructed be threatened now more than ever? A conversation which was reignited about a week ago now when the most recent and fairly high-profile former player has come out and leveled pretty substantial steroid allegations at the longevity king. That, of course, when Jeff Teague dropped some bombshell comments in LeBron's direction during a live stream for his Club 520 podcast.
"He was on steroids, bro. He had to sit out. He was on steroids for real."
And while Teague tried to walk those comments back in the days that would follow and insist he was just joking, it was pretty evident Teague was not joking when he made the initial accusations during that live stream.
"Y'all remember that though? They was like he got everybody they started chasing testing for HGH and they was like yo and he had to sit out like he said his back was hurt and he sat out for like 3 weeks and he came back skinny. This was just I was in the league. a minute."
Of course, it was just about a year ago now that Kevin Garnett made similar commentary.
"He's dead on that balcony on that new slide like he used to."
And perhaps the most damning bit of these clips isn't that Teague and Garnett are alleging LeBron has used or still is using PEDs. It's in how matter-of-fact they are in making these statements in the first place, as if it's virtually common knowledge amongst people around the league. They, of course, though are not the first to make these kinds of assertions about how LeBron has achieved his historic level of longevity. As former MMA fighter and admitted doper himself, Chael Sonnen was perhaps the first and most high-profile figure to come out publicly and accuse LeBron of not only using performance-enhancers, but he went into great detail with it.
"If the world understood what LeBron did, we have the same drug guy, if you will. I know exactly what he's doing. EPO matters. It's the reason LeBron takes it. It's the king of performance enhancers."
And Sonnen has doubled down on these assertions multiple times over multiple years. Of course, as with Teague's allegations, most credible intel points to LeBron James beginning his journey with performance enhancers back sometime during his stint with the Heat after he took his talents to South Beach during the summer of 2010.
"And this fall, I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and um join the Miami Heat."
LeBron's tenure in Miami lasted from the 2011 season through 2014. Notable because it overlaps with the famed Biogenesis scandal, a health clinic that operated in Coral Gables, Florida, which is a city in Miami-Dade County. It was founded by Anthony Bosch, and was first registered in state corporation records in March of 2012. And on January 22nd, 2013, the Miami New Times obtained documents from former Biogenesis employee Porter Fiser, which it said linked three players, Melky Cabrera, Bartolo Colon, and Yasmani Grandal, stating they had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2012 with the clinic. Additionally, the paper implicated several other star Major League Baseball players at the time, including Alex Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, and Nelson Cruz.
And nearly a decade after that scandal blew up the sports world, 1,400 pages worth of unredacted federal investigative documents pertaining to that case and the 21-month investigation, which was dubbed Operation Strikeout by the DEA, was released in 2023. And in those documents, there were concrete ties implicating several people in LeBron's inner circle as clients of the clinic and beyond. Citing intel from the documents that at the height of the federal investigation in May 2013, a DEA surveillance detail captured Ernest "Randy" Mims and David Alexander meeting with a known target of the investigation, Carlos Asivo, who was a former business partner of Anthony Bosch and was eventually convicted for his role with Biogenesis. Ernest Mims, meanwhile, is a well-known and key member of LeBron's inner circle, dating back decades now, and has been described as a manager of LeBron James, while holding several business roles for him, as well as official paid positions with both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers. And there is surveillance footage of Mims and David Alexander both meeting together with Carlos Asivo during 2013. David Alexander, meanwhile, was LeBron's and LeBron's wife's personal trainer while he was playing for the Miami Heat. Oh, also state incorporation documents show that Savannah James and David Alexander also co-owned a cold-pressed juice and smoothie business together around that same time. Asivo eventually served a little more than a year after pleading guilty as part of a deal with the feds for his work serving as a confidential informant for them, confirming to investigators that Alexander was supplied performance-enhancing substances, including "peptides, testosterone, and HCG used to help the body increase the production of natural testosterone."
Now, as the timeline pertains to the NBA, in 2011, ESPN The Magazine did an interview with that year's league MVP, Derrick Rose, and he was asked about the use of performance enhancers in the NBA at that time. While he did issue a retraction through a team spokesperson, the initial question was if one equals "what are PEDs" and 10 equals "everybody's juicing," how big of an issue is illegal enhancing in your sport? To which Rose responded, "Seven. It's huge and I think we need to level the playing field where nobody has that advantage over the next person." Of course, Rose's MVP that season broke up back-to-back by LeBron in 2009 and 2010, and then two more in 2012 and '13. A five-year span in which LeBron won all four of his league MVPs. The first of which again came at the age of 24 in the 2009 season, a season in which he had to have a benign mass removed from his jaw following the season. Again, though, nothing ever confirmed, but the area in which the tumor was removed is susceptible generally speaking to growth when someone is using PEDs due to all of the hormonal glands in that area.
Look, probably that is just nothing but a whole lot of coincidences. Such as the time LeBron just vanished for two weeks during the 2014-15 season, his first back in Cleveland following his tenure in South Beach. LeBron seemed to be slumping, if not outright declining, in the middle of that season. Thus, on December 30th, 2014, he decided to take a bizarre two-week leave of absence from the Cavaliers organization to return to, well, Miami, of course. The Cavs at the time were only 18-13 and in fifth place in the Eastern Conference. And in those final eight games before LeBron's leave of absence, James was averaging just 24 points per game, 4.8 rebounds, and 7.8 assists on 48% shooting from the field. And in the middle of an active NBA season, LeBron took a two-week excused absence from the team. And upon his return, he was averaging 30.12 points per game, 6.12 rebounds, and 6.12 assists on 51% shooting. And LeBron's resurgence following the trip to Miami would result in the Cavs going from the five seed to the two by season's end and returning to the NBA Finals following a 12-2 playoff run in the East bracket that year. Oh, and a teammate of LeBron's on that Cleveland team who would play with LeBron for his entire four-year second tenure with the Cavs was Tristan Thompson, who he ended up being suspended 25 games in 2024 for testing positive for banned substances. And as Thompson recently told Mark J. Spears in an interview, "Me and Bron's connection go way bigger than basketball. I've known him since I was 17. So, I've always had crazy respect for him. There's a brotherhood that's deep."
Just more interesting coincidences here, I'm sure. Just like on February 26, 2023, when LeBron tore a tendon in his right foot during a game against the Dallas Mavericks. And at the time, various reports indicated that the injury could potentially be season-ending with two different doctors reportedly recommending season-ending surgery. Yet, miraculously, LeBron would return earlier from the injury than any of the doctors anticipated, missing only 13 games total because, according to LeBron himself, he was healing faster than any of the doctors had ever seen.
"When did you get a sense of you you would have a plan to get you back faster than than what the normal?"
"When the doctors told me I was uh healing faster than anybody I've seen before with the injury."
And now here we are into LeBron's pending 23rd season, one that he is allegedly coming off of a Grade 2 MCL sprain in that fourth quarter of their elimination game against the Minnesota Timberwolves during a collision with Dante DiVincenzo. According to LeBron, he couldn't even get out of bed the next morning, and that's when the doctors ordered an immediate MRI. But less than a month after the alleged injury, the 40-year-old was seen showing off his moves in this social media post obtained by 16th Sports. Just more unprecedented healing by a guy with historical wear, tear, and degradation on his body.
So, while there is nothing, nor has there ever been anything definitive to connect James to a specific failed drug test, there is an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence supporting the fact that LeBron has been using something. Though, despite all of the conversations and allegations leveled against him, perhaps the most damning bit of evidence of all is the fact he has never answered any of it. Not officially, legally, or even off the record. The king narcissist, who has to comment on everything, either through his IG posts, official media sessions, or on his "Mind the Game" podcast, has never addressed any of these allegations. A guy who just days ago through his legal team sent out multiple cease and desists to various Instagram handles using AI to depict LeBron in compromising scenarios, including as being pregnant. Full weight of the legal team on that, but never anything directed towards the multitude of public figures calling him an outright cheater on their fairly sizable platforms. No strongly worded denials, nothing. Something just feels off here.
And if anything ever would come out that is definitive, we can firmly speculate that it would be the end of LeBron's legacy and his inclusion in any formal kinds of GOAT or top 10 debates. Has every athlete we have ever seen implicated with performance enhancers have in effect been wiped from the history of their sports? At least that is the aim and goal of these governing bodies. It is why the all-time home run king Barry Bonds with a record seven league MVPs, as well as the sport's most decorated pitcher and Roger Clemens with seven Cy Young awards, are not in the Hall of Fame. And neither seem to be heading there anytime soon. Yes, that is the same fate that awaits the longevity king if any evidence declaratively ever comes out on him.
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