LeBron James on Steven Adams: Lakers star heaps praise on ‘strongest guy in the NBA’

Memphis Grizzlies centre Steven Adams dunks during the first half of an NBA game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Photo / AP

As we say goodbye to 2023 and welcome in 2024, it’s a good time to catch up on the very best stories we enjoyed reading over the last 12 months. From politics to sports, from business to entertainment and lifestyle, these are the ones our audience loved the most. This story was first published in April.

As praise goes it might not get any better for Steven Adams.

NBA legend LeBron James dubbed the Kiwi “the strongest guy in the NBA” in the wake of the clash between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies yesterday.

The game will be known mostly for the altercation between Fox Sports personality and NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe and the Grizzlies players, but Adams had another strong outing in the 122-121 defeat.

James scored 23 points, closing in on 231 points short of the NBA scoring record by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Adams finished with 17 rebounds and 16 points.

After the game, James was asked about how the Grizzlies managed to get 39 second-chance points, the most in an NBA game in the last 25 years, with Adams being a big part of that statistic.

“They have probably nine guys over 6′8, 6′9... you got two guys flying at him to contest on Ja Morant and then you’ve got the strong guy in the NBA in Steven Adams under there battling against guards, we’re probably going to lose that battle 100 out of 100 times,” James said.

“The last game they played against Cleveland they actually won on a second-chance point by Steven Adams. Because two guys went at Ja Morant’s layup and Steven Adams couldn’t be blocked out - even by Evan Mobley, who’s almost seven foot tall.”

LeBron on the Grizzlies scoring the most 2nd chance pts in the last 25 yrs

“You spend a lot of time keying in on Ja Morant… send 2 guys at him. Then you got the strongest guy in the NBA in Steven Adams under there battling vs guards. You’re gonna lose that battle 100/100 times” pic.twitter.com/zscNInOAHc

— Steven Adams Stats (@funakistats) January 21, 2023

Adams showed off that strength when Sharpe sparked a heated altercation from courtside right after the halftime buzzer.

Sharpe was seen yelling at Grizzlies star Morant before Adams stepped in and exchanged words with the former NFL player. There was several attempts by people to move Adams back but he didn’t budge and was later praised for defending his teammate.

Absolute madness. Shannon Sharpe was talking to Ja Morant, then Steven Adams walked over in front of Ja Morant. Tee Morant and Shannon Sharpe then had words before Sharpe was escalated off the floor. pic.twitter.com/iIpOnxDPiH

— Damichael Cole (@DamichaelC) January 21, 2023

Speaking during the broadcast after halftime, Mark Jackson said the altercation was proof of just how close the Grizzlies as a team are, even if it was “nothing” in his opinion.

“You see Steven Adams comes over to protect his guy along with the supporting cast and then Shannon Sharpe [is] still talking and Tee Morant, Ja Morant’s dad comes over,” Jackson said.

“I had an opportunity to talk to Tee Morant and he said, ‘My blood pressure didn’t go up a bit, nothing but love and respect for Shannon Sharpe. Just a bunch of guys talking a bunch of trash’.

“The good thing you see is everyone is in building still in their seat but we have to be better collectively. I’ll tell you what, it showed you the togetherness of the Memphis Grizzlies. There was a bunch of guys who had nothing to do with it but wasn’t going to sit back and watch. Even though it was nothing, they did nothing together.”