Usually, the Los Angeles Lakers go through their preseason schedule with a minimal amount of travel. But on Thursday, they will be in Wisconsin to take on the Milwaukee Bucks.
They last played on Sunday when they lost 118-114 to the Phoenix Suns, which will give them plenty of time to get settled in and prepare for their third contest of this year’s preseason schedule. But one Lakers player isn’t exactly happy about having a plane ride to the Midwest.
LeBron James took to X (formerly Twitter) to complain about his team having to travel across two time zones for a mere exhibition contest.
Richard Jefferson, who won an NBA championship with James on the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, responded to his former teammate’s complaint.
One X user responded with a bit of humor to James.
James doesn’t really have any reason to complain about this. The Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics both traveled to Abu Dhabi and played a pair of preseason games there just days ago.
A few decades ago, it was typical for NBA teams to cross multiple time zones and even crisscross the nation during the exhibition season. Even with improvements in travel, including not taking commercial flights and more downtime between games, the league’s travel schedule is still brutal, and it is simply part of the deal of being a pro basketball player.