Basketball Royalty: A King’s Reign Podcast About LeBron

In basketball, when you’re called by just your first name  - Michael, Kareem, Kobe -- you know you've reached the pinnacle of success in the sport.  Basketball is a sport that promotes mega-stars by the setup of the game. It's the team sport with the fewest number of players engaged at one time -- five. Hockey has six. And unlike ice hockey, the players don't have helmets that make them, at times, hard to identify. 

In basketball, players excel by separating their bodies from others on the court. They leap for a three-pointer. Take a fade away jumpshot. Fly through the air for a dunk. And defy gravity by reaching up for a rebound. 

That's why this latest sports podcast isn't a surprise. Especially for a player who possesses all the aforementioned skills.

 He’s one of the greatest players in N.B.A. history. He’s a media mogul, an activist, a philanthropist and a lightning rod for criticism. A King’s Reign, a new podcast from The Athletic, takes a look back at LeBron James’s unprecedented 20-season run as the face of the N.B.A. 

In this new narrative podcast series, a team of all-star sports journalists come together to highlight the important stories from LeBron’s legendary career from his high school prospect days to his unique rivalry with Steph Curry, his cultural impact as a “meme generator” and more. 

Episodes feature original reporting from The Athletic’s deep bench of experts, including David Aldridge, Sam Amick, Marcus Thompson II, Joe Vardon, Jason Lloyd, Zach Harper, the “No Dunks” podcast crew and more.

“‘A King’s Reign’ has an unprecedented combination of reporting talent in the sports podcast space,” said Mike Smeltz, The Athletic’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. “Listeners will go deeper on all the iconic moments from LeBron’s career, guided by first-person perspectives from The Athletic’s journalists who covered him, and the players, coaches and executives who competed with and against LeBron. ‘A King’s Reign’ looks at more than what makes LeBron a legendary basketball player. The series spreads out into all the fields that LeBron himself has — entertainment, philanthropy, internet culture, and business — and detailing why the kid from Akron has become the king of basketball.”

 
In January 2022, The New York Times reached an agreement to buy The Athletic, the online sports news outlet with 1.2 million subscriptions, in an all-cash deal valued at $550 million. 

The deal brought The Times, which has more than eight million total subscriptions, quickly closer to its stated goal of having at least ten million subscriptions by 2025, while also offering its audience more in-depth coverage of the more than 200 professional teams in North America, Britain, and Europe that are closely followed by The Athletic’s journalists.

Coming this summer, the 12-episode series will drop on “The Athletic N.B.A. Show” feed, one of the most listened-to podcasts on The Athletic Podcast Network.