Longtime trainer says LeBron initially didn't want to play a lot of minutes in the Olympics: "Well, me knowing you, we'll see if that holds true"

LeBron James looked phenomenal during last month's 2024 Olympics in Paris. The Los Angeles Lakers superstar led Team USA to the gold medal while winning Tournament MVP honors.

Despite being the oldest player on the squad, LeBron ended up leading Team USA in playing time at 24.5 minutes per game and figured heavily during important stretches of games.

However, according to his longtime trainer, Mike Mancias, logging heavy minutes and playing a significant role in the tournament were the last things on LeBron's mind when he signified his intention to join the "Avengers."

"We had a meeting during the season, and he says, 'You know what, Mike, I'm not going to be doing much,'" said Mancias during an interview on the High Performance podcast. "I'm not going to be playing much, you know. I'm gonna let some of the young guys get some more experiences and stuff."

LeBron was one of the first to say he wanted in

It can be recalled that LeBron was one of the first to declare that he wanted to play for the 2024 Paris Olympics team after Team USA's humiliating finish in the 2023 FIBA World Cup in the Philippines. In that tournament, USAB failed to win a medal after losing to Germany in the semifinals and Canada in the Bronze medal game.

As Kevin Durant admitted , Bron started texting him and other superstars, including Steph Curry and Anthony Davis, to convince them to join him on the Paris team. However, with five players, including Curry, who had no prior Olympic experience, and four who had only participated in one international tournament, LeBron decided to change his approach.

"I said, 'Okay, well, me knowing you, we'll see if that holds true.' I knew once the game started that was not going to be the case, and sure enough, he wanted to set the tone early," added Mancias. "He had a mind shift change, he took inventory of the team around him and how much experience they had with FIBA, etc. He said, 'Well, I still have to set the tone.'"

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Setting the tone in Las Vegas

And so, from Day 1 in Las Vegas, LeBron was the first guy up. At 7:30 a.m., he was already lifting weights in the weight room, the first one for breakfast, the first one for therapy and stretching, the first in the layup line and warmup line, and just setting the tone. That work ethic had USAB Director Grant Hill praising King James' dedication .

"LeBron has been fantastic from Day One. The first day of practice in Las Vegas, he had maybe 20 dunks in practice. He's 39-and-a-half years old, and he's dunking everything and probably showed up in the best shape," Hill said on The Dan Patrick Show.

His teammates voted Bron as the 'Best Player in Training Camp,' and everything just took off from there. The Kid from Akron went on to average 14.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 8.5 assists, and 1.3 steals in six Olympic games. With his consistency, leadership, and all-around brilliance, the oldest player on Team USA left Paris as the best player on the best team in the world.

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