LeBron James may not have made the decision everyone’s waiting on him to make just yet, but one thing he is certain about is the impact his “big brother” Jay-Z has had on him over the years.
Speaking with Rich Kleiman during the CNBC Sport x Boardroom Game Plan Summit at Fanatics Fest NYC on Thursday (July 16), James, currently a free agent after confirming he would not be back with the Lakers come next season, the four-time NBA champ made it clear just how much HOV has inspired him over the years.
As James, now 41, recalled, he first met the 25-time Grammy winner when he was merely 16 years old. Immediately, James recognized a confidence in Jay that stuck with him.
“He moved how a person that knows who he is and what he brings to the table is supposed to move,” he said Thursday. “And from the business side, to the way he talked, to the way he greeted people. It was just an aura about him and a professionalism in his respective genre that we all kind of learned, and we all kind of took to this point now.”
James went on to cite HOV as “one of my biggest inspirations,” notably putting him in the company of Michael Jordan, though there is a personal distinction when it comes to their respective impacts.
“I say [Michael Jordan] was my biggest inspiration as far as basketball, but I never got an opportunity to hang with him or talk to him or whatever,” James explained. “But Jay is like my big brother. He’s the one who’s given me so much game and has taught me so much. I’m always thinking about him any time I’m doing something business-wise or making a decision or whatever, thinking like, is this going to make him proud? Because he gave me so much game as a 16-year-old kid.”
The HOV praise is timely, as generations of fans have likely been having similar thoughts in recent days thanks to his celebrations of the Reasonable Doubt and Blueprint anniversaries at Yankee Stadium. Jay has a few more 2026 dates on the horizon, plus a new HBO docuseries directed by Rick Rubin that’s set to continue the legacy-focused conversation.
James, meanwhile, has kept everyone guessing as to where he’ll land after his Lakers exit.
