LeBron James on Tuesday befuddled the media when he revealed that he is being fueled in the NBA Finals by a secret motivating factor. James declined to reveal the source of the motivation and was ambiguous when pressed by reporters.
Was the secret motivation revealed after he led his team to a Game 3 victory?
James appeared on ESPN’s postgame show and was interviewed by best friend and former teammate Dwyane Wade, who was serving as a guest analyst for the network. Wade brought up that James finished third in MVP voting while Steph Curry won the award, and he asked if that slight gave James the chip that he needed entering the NBA Finals. Though James tried to downplay it, it sure seemed like losing MVP bothered him.
“I don’t think I needed [the chip],” James said. “I had so much motivation coming into the season but I knew it was going to be a long process. I knew what I was giving up and what it was going to take for me to get our guys ready to be a part of this. I didn’t think that we were going to get to this point right now, but I was ready to lead if we got to this point.”
James then really got into the MVP part of the question.
“Every day that I step onto the basketball floor, I want to be the MVP … for my teammates, for whoever that is looking to me as a leader. I can’t say that I wasn’t upset finishing third because I know what I bring to the table. I know how much I work on my craft every single night. I can’t say I was happy finishing third, but I didn’t need that extra motivation to put myself in this position today.”
LeBron may have denied that he needed the MVP slight as a chip entering the Finals, but he did concede that it bothered him to finish third. I think that is more indicative of his true feelings than him saying he didn’t need the motivation. I also do not think it was a coincidence that Wade brought up this point specifically. You don’t think those two have talked about it in private? James just might not want to reveal the “chip” until after the series is over, but I’m guessing he is on a mission to prove to the media that he is the real MVP, not Curry.
