The Warriors Are Keeping LeBron James Up at Night

At the moment, the Cavaliers are 13-4 and at the top of the Eastern Conference despite playing their first 17 games without both Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert. They have the third-best record in the entire NBA, just half a game behind the San Antonio Spurs. And yet, because the Warriorsare running through their schedule and haven’t lost a game this season, the Cavs are being overshadowed.

This is something that is apparently keeping LeBron up at night. Just check out his new Sports Illustrated cover story here. The story, written by Lee Jenkins, starts off with LeBron laying in bed at 2 a.m. and struggling to sleep after a loss to the Pistons. His cure for his insomnia? TV. That is, until he decides to turn on a Raptors/Warriors game from earlier in the night. According to Jenkins, the last thing on LeBron’s mind was sleep after he watched what the Warriors were able to do during their 12th win of the season.

"He might as well have mainlined Red Bull," Jenkins writes.

The rest of the feature focuses on what LeBron has been doing to try and put the Cavs back into a position to make a run to the NBA Finals. From changing his leadership tactics to bonding with his teammates to spending the entire summer putting in hours and hours and hours of work at the gym to get better, LeBron is focused on one thing and one thing only: Winning an NBA championship. He has a million and one other things going on in his life, but he maintains that his sole focus is basketball.

“The homes I live in, the cars I drive, the schools my kids attend, the movies, the shows, the businesses, it’s all because of basketball,” he says. “That’s the main thing. It always has to be the main thing.”

And as for the heat he’s feeling as a result of the success that the Warriors and, more specifically, Steph Curry have enjoyed? He says it’s helping fuel him.

“I hear the chatter about who is the best player in the league,” he says. “I see the guys who are barreling down. That locks me in even more.”

Check out the SI piece here to read more about LeBron’s pursuit of another ring.

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[via Sports Illustrated]