The Lakers are an NBA team, but the roster enjoys going away from the sport to sometimes build chemistry with each other. Jaxson Hayes revealed that the team plays the NFL video game ‘Madden’ with each other a lot, proclaiming LeBron James as the best Madden player on the team, while declaring that rookie Jalen Hood-Schifino is the worst.
“We have a Madden group chat… Right now it’s Bron, but I will get up there soon. We do randoms but he likes the Eagles a lot, he plays with the Dolphins and Jaguars too. (the worst is) JHood. He needs to get his Madden skills up.”
Jaxson Hayes told me that the team’s Madden league is one of the ways they continue to build team chemistry. LeBron James is No. 1 and rookie Jalen Hood-Schifino is last in the league.
“JHood needs to get his Madden skills up.” 🤣 #Lakeshow pic.twitter.com/Rd0jUiBtx4
— Lauren Jones (@LoJoMedia) December 27, 2023
Given the amount of hours LeBron has spent playing Madden, I’d be shocked if he wasn’t the best player on the team. He openly said he was addicted to playing Madden 23, last year’s iteration of the game, and has been seen blowing steam on the game four hours even after Laker games. It’s a major part of James’ routine for unwinding and relaxing, as it hasn’t impacted his on-court performances.
James was extremely active on Madden throughout the NBA Bubble, with fans recalling seeing LeBron online on Xbox for hours. Given all the quarantining and restricted interaction, it’s clear James spent most of the time in his room playing video games before going out and winning a championship for the Lakers.
Bam Adebayo Claimed The Bubble Was The Hardest Championship To Win
LeBron James may have spent a lot of time on Madden in the Bubble, but it’s clear he needed to have an outlet like that given how players were struggling in those circumstances. Clippers players from that year like Lou Williams and Patrick Beverley have openly come out and said they gave up due to the circumstances, explaining why the franchise hasn’t come close to a title in the years since either.
Multiple players have advocated for the other side of the coin, with Damian Lillard openly discussing how challenging winning a title in those circumstances was. Bam Adebayo, whose Miami Heat made it to the NBA Finals that year before losing to the Lakers, claimed it was arguably the hardest championship to win.
“That was the hardest championship to win in my opinion… It’s you and your thoughts in one room boxed in. It felt like you were gang-affiliated when you were in the bubble.”
Adebayo made it back to the Finals in 2023 with the Heat, making a run through the East as the eighth seed. Even with that experience in ‘normal’ conditions, Adebayo has sided towards the bubble. Players not being able to take the challenging circumstances of isolation isn’t a discredit to the bubble, but greater credit to the players who handled it and the leaders who kept their teams engaged to compete till the end.
