Behind The ScenesNBA

Rachel Nichols’ interview with LeBron James to air on GMA, SportsCenter

As host of ESPN’s in-season weekday NBA show, The Jump, Rachel Nichols is laser-focused on all things hoops, including what happens away from the court.

With the 2016-17 season still a few months away, Nichols interviewed the biggest star in the game this week, three-time NBA champion and four-time league MVP LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Nichols visited James’ hometown of Akron, Ohio, for an interview that will debut Thursday morning on ABC’s Good Morning America and later that day during editions of SportsCenter. This weekend, SportsCenter also will air an extended version of the conversation.

Nichols, who has interviewed James on a number of key occasions, discusses their conversation this week and how she saw a different side of the NBA Finals MVP by spending time with him and seeing up-close the work he is doing with his LeBron James Family Foundation.

For someone who doesn’t talk too openly about his childhood that often, this was a fascinating look at what made him, and the legacy in turn that he left behind.
– Rachel Nichols regarding her LeBron James interview

How did the interview come about?
I’ve been watching the Foundation grow through the years, but LeBron’s ESPYS speech was the first time he connected just why the work he was doing was so important to him. When we got to talk more, he made it clear how the path he had walked growing up was a model for what he is doing now. For someone who doesn’t talk too openly about his childhood that often, this was a fascinating look at what made him, and the legacy in turn that he left behind.

You have interviewed James many times throughout his career. For fans who don’t have this kind of access to him, what’s he like on a personal level?
He’s incredibly smart and observant, and despite being in the public eye for more than half his life, he hasn’t become so careful that he’s lost his sense of fun. I do think he knows the responsibility he has as one of the country’s most high-profile athletes, and as he’s gotten older, it’s been fascinating to watch him embrace that. This summer has been another step in that evolution, and I don’t think he’s done yet.

Nichols (left) with LeBron during their interview. (Courtesy Rachel Nichols)
Rachel Nichols’ interview with LeBron James will air on ABC as well as ESPN. (Rachel Nichols/ESPN)
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