Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James’s newest addition to his off-court portfolio arrived on Tuesday with the debut of his and Mind the Game podcast with former NBA guard-turned-ESPN personality JJ Redick. The duo teamed up for the venture, and while there were a number of noteworthy talking points in episode one, the insight from James on the rival Boston Celtics was noteworthy.
Specifically, James offered exceptionally high praise for Boston’s star forward Jayson Tatum. James praised Tatum’s “elite” ability to win games consistently, citing that at age 25, he’s already made four conference finals and one trip to the NBA Finals.
James then hit a few former Celtics with a bit of a stray, mentioning that “personnel helps” while giving a candid evaluation of his thoughts on the Celtics’ trade for Jrue Holiday.
“Like I said, personnel helps. Adding [Kristaps] Porziņģis and getting Jrue [Holiday] for a bag of Lays potato chips, that helps as well,” James said.
LeBron speaks highly of Jayson Tatum in this clip
— ²³𝙻𝚎𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜🏀☄️🌎💞 (@BronGotGame) March 19, 2024
Also says Celtics got “Porzingis and Jrue for a bag of Lays potato chips”😭😭 pic.twitter.com/t7D07udN9r
It’s safe to assume Malcolm Brogdon and Robert Williams, who were included in the trade for Holiday, weren’t expecting to hear that on a random Tuesday morning. For good measure, the Celtics also had to send two first-round picks (2024 via Golden State Warriors, 2029 unprotected) along with the two players in exchange for Holiday.
Holiday’s fit in Boston has been great thus far, and Porziņģis’s addition has contributed to what will likely be the Celtics’ best regular season record since 2007–08 when they went 66–16. At 54–14, Boston is 10 games up in the Eastern Conference.
