There's no way LeBron James allegedly gained seven pounds during a playoff game
Now in his 15th NBA season, LeBron James has reached borderline mythical status. Between his play and accomplishments on the court, his seeming immunity to injury and his impressive achievements off the floor, LeBron is truly one of a kind. But of course, he is not immortal, and his success is in large part due to the tremendous amount of work he puts in on a daily basis.
Early on Monday morning, Brian Windhorst of ESPN wrote a fascinating story detailing much of the behind the scenes work that goes into keeping LeBron healthy and able to perform at this level well into his 30s. It's a quite interesting story, and well worth reading, but most everyone who did so was surely stopped in their tracks by the opening paragraphs.
Allegedly, LeBron once gained seven pounds during an Eastern Conference finals game back when he was with the Miami Heat. Via ESPN:
In the past 15 years, stories about LeBron James' body have become a bit legendary with teammates. Seeing him turn his ankle nearly 90 degrees only to tighten his shoelaces and finish with a triple-double. Watching him show up four hours before a playoff game to get in a sweat-soaked workout, then play more than 40 minutes and score 40 points. And the topper: the time James gained seven pounds during an Eastern Conference finals game. Some Miami Heat teammates saw the scale and attest to it in amazement. James himself just shrugs and calls it "weird as hell." The truly wild part is that it was from 271 pounds to 278 pounds, though James is much lighter these days.
Sorry, but there is just no way this is true.
I know this is bordering on highlight truther territory here, and I'm normally willing to believe just about anything you would tell me about LeBron, but not this time. Maybe it's because I graduated with a degree in athletic training, but I just can't let this one slide. I don't care if some Heat teammates also saw the scale, there's just no way this is possible.
Athletes are expected to lose weight during games or practice. And in school we would learn about proper hydration strategies to make sure players didn't lose too much weight. There were never any classes or lessons about how to prevent athletes from gaining weight during games, because that just doesn't make any physiological sense.
Even assuming that for some reason LeBron was chugging gallons of Gatorade and ate a massive meal at halftime, he still wouldn't have gained weight during a game -- let alone seven pounds.