LeBron James has a lot to say about San Antonio, and we can’t help but wonder if he’s still harboring bad memories of the times he lost out on a ring because of the Spurs.
Speaking with Steve Nash on their Mind the Game podcast, James said the Knicks may have come to San Antonio with a “free swing” attitude because they didn’t have to worry about defending home court to start the series. Additionally, being in San Antonio allowed them to “focus on basketball” rather than be distracted by the electricity of New York City.
“You ain’t doing sh*t in San Antonio. Nothing at all. Nothing. And I mean nothing,” James doubled and tripled down. When Nash said, “Not getting on the River Walk?” James replied, “Hell nah. The River Walk — f*ck around and fall in the water.”
OK, he might be right that you’ll often see people dunking themselves in the water, whether that be because they’ve dropped something in or they’ve just lost the ability to walk straight after a margarita. And he might have a point that being well-rested, as the Knicks were, and heading to a lower-pressure environment might have worked in their favor.
But what he’s wrong about is… everything else. We can think of a few things to do in San Antonio, such as getting swept by the Spurs in your first NBA Finals in 2007 and losing again in 2014 (we don’t talk about 2013). San Antonio also has a major airport, which makes flights to Cancún very convenient.
It’s just not true that there’s nothing to do in San Antonio. The city is full of nature, shopping, food, tons of activities, historic sites and more, probably a step up from most places in Ohio, where James hails from. And the argument that San Antonio can’t distract a road team falls short when you know that Wemby sketched a statue in New York City’s Gramercy Park and proceeded to snap the Knicks’ 13-game postseason win streak at Madison Square Garden. It comes down to the player, not the place.
At the end of the day, he’s probably just biased after living in Miami and Los Angeles, which, admittedly, are much busier places. But San Antonio is a great place to live, which deserves a little more credit than James seems willing to give. It’s the city that several Spurs legends have decided to call home long after retirement, which has to count for something. Maybe when (if?) he finally retires, he’ll see why San Antonio is a great place to settle down in — just ask Tim Duncan, Manu Ginóbili, Sean Elliott, David Robinson, George Gervin and others.