LeBron James, JJ Redick to launch new podcast ‘Mind the Game’
Los Angeles Lakers superstar forward LeBron James, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and 15-year NBA veteran JJ Redick will be teaming up for a new basketball-centric podcast called “Mind the Game,” the two announced Monday.
The first episode is expected to launch Tuesday and is expected to be a weekly 45-60 minute podcast, per Andrew Marchand of The Athletic; the first episode is expected to be on YouTube. The podcast is expected to delve into the realm of actual basketball–not the click-bait narratives or agendas that you see in mainstream basketball media on TV or scroll through social media, but the game itself.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve done to innovate in sports media,” James said in a statement, according to The Athletic. “When I do a project, the only thing I think about is whether me and my friends would watch it. That is definitely the case with ‘Mind the Game.’ Everything doesn’t need to be designed for internet culture and clicks.”
Redick began his own podcast, “The Old Man & the Three” with Tommy Alter in August 2020 and is a regular guest on ESPN’s famous debate show “First Take.” He was also recently elevated to ESPN’s No. 1 broadcasting team alongside Mike Breen and Doris Burke, which will call this year’s NBA Finals.
Redick, one of basketball’s brightest minds, wears multiple hats, so he has some experience with what good basketball discourse is versus not. James is widely considered to be one of the smartest on-court minds in NBA History; he’s always six steps ahead of his opponents and can recall any action at any point during a game that many forget.
“It’s meant to be a very free-flowing conversation about the sport and about the game,” Redick said, according to The Athletic. “If you look at it in a very simplistic way, it’s just about basketball.
“The way (James) talks about the game, the way he communicates the game, it’s beautiful … I think both of us feel there is more that we can give.”
In their two-minute teaser released Monday, James and Redick appear to be discussing two different types of screen coverages that they would do more often; James outlines a pick-the-picker BLOB (baseline out-of-bounds play) where the inbounder-guard defender (coming off a screen) essentially peel-switch as the guard flies off the screen.
I soak up Xs and Os like a sponge; for those obsessed with the different intricacies of the game of basketball–and not pointless James-Michael Jordan GOAT debates that plague the internet each day from NBA “fans”–this is likely the pod for you.
How do you think this ends up? Do you think this is a successful idea? Let us know in the comments!
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