It’s no secret how much of a hard worker LeBron James is. James has remained a top-caliber player in the NBA even at age 41 due to his incredible ability to take care of his body — which requires an incredible amount of hard work. Throughout his career, James has had a legendary work ethic, and a recollection from James’ former teammate on the Cleveland Cavaliers, Mo Williams, is yet another piece of evidence pointing to that fact.
Making an appearance on FanDuel TV’s Run It Back, the former Cavs guard and NBA champion in 2016 recalled how James was already finishing up his morning workout by the time the team showed up for shootaround.
“I’ll walk downstairs and get on the treadmill and get a light workout in before shootaround, [James is] finishing up [his workout]. When we get on the bus and get to the gym, he’s already finishing up a workout,” Williams said. “He was doing this 20 years ago. So for me, what I see at that point of my career, wishing I could have just said, ‘You know what I’m just gonna be a fly on your wall and do what you do.'”
“I wish I would’ve done something like that and I probably would’ve played 20 years and got paid 21.”
LeBron was finishing his workouts by the time the Cavs showed up for shootaround 😤
Mo Williams says he'd have a 20-year NBA career if he paid more attention to LeBron's preparation 😂💯@mowilliams | @MichelleDBeadle | @ChandlerParsons | @TeamLou23 pic.twitter.com/PGtKgOQ9IO
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) May 14, 2026
Williams did have a successful 13-year career in the NBA, and perhaps he could have had a longer NBA career had he pushed his body to the limit. Even then, he retired as an NBA champion, being a part of the Cavs team that came back from 3-1 down in the 2016 NBA Finals, and that is quite the way to go.
The 2009 NBA All-Star is now an assistant coach for the men’s program of Kentucky basketball, and perhaps this is the start of his journey to becoming more and more of an influential person in the coaching ranks.