Although the 2019-20 NBA season remains on hiatus due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the basketball world got a brief reprieve as “The Last Dance” by ESPN was released a couple of months ahead of schedule.
The docuseries, which followed the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls en route to their final NBA Championship, was a thrilling watch that reminded most people just how dominant Michael Jordan and the rest of that team was.
However, the series recently concluded, once again leaving a void in basketball programming. Players and fans alike praised “The Last Dance” for its content, but LeBron James mentioned how it inspired him to get back on the court, via Uninterrupted:
“Watching this doc, I’m sitting there watching my daughter walk across the room and if she comes close to me, I give her a little going right hard, slap her on the butt, let her fly by and I leave it (the follow through on a shot) there. We all see that. She’s looking at me like, ‘What are you doing dad?’ It’s just the moment. That moment and those times, man, that I grew up on, is something I’ll never forget.”
“The summertime is kind of when I get extra motivated. The reason I say that is because yes, we’re supposed to be in the playoffs, but I’m talking about just the summertime. I get an opportunity to watch my son play. And going on that circuit, watching them play AAU ball, you’re like, ‘Wow, man.’
“It gets the juices flowing again like, ‘Wow, I want to get right back out there and play right now.’ Now that we’re not playing because we’re suspended because of the pandemic, watching “The Last Dance,” it’s like, I’ll play anywhere. We can really go outside in my driveway and we can start a game right now.”
James and the rest of the NBA have been holed up in quarantine as the league looks for ways to safely resume the regular season, so it is no surprise to see the forward eager to get back to playing.
He and several other NBA superstars banded together recently to let the league know they are looking to restart as soon as possible, but will need to wait and see how the situation develops.
However, James and the rest of the NBA should soon have an answer on what will happen after commissioner Adam Silver indicated on a May 12 conference call that he hoped to arrive at a decision within the next month.
Every indication thus far has been James, the Los Angeles Lakers and rest of the NBA will return at Walt Disney World.