LeBron James turns 34 in December, and he’s still the best basketball player on the planet. But he knows that won’t always be the case. In a preview for the second episode of LeBron’s HBO series, The Shop, the Lakers star shared a discussion with rapper Drake about knowing when to call it quits. Drake said that the dilemma was the biggest concern of his career, which led to some key advice from LeBron. LeBron shared a clip of the conversation on Instagram. (NSFW language) Drake said: “I think maybe one of my biggest concerns in my career is just to figure out how to exit gracefully. I’ve watched people overstay their welcome, and I just don’t ever want to be that guy that’s addicted to the feeling of victory, addicted to the emotion of people digesting something that they love. And get to a point where I’m feeding them something and they’re just like, ‘Yeah ….” To which LeBron responded: “What helps with the gracefully bowing out is having people around you that were there from the Day 1. That seen you from the beginning … You can’t have mother(expletive) around you that don’t keep it honest with you, that don’t keep it real with you. You gotta have someone to tell you like, ‘Yo, either accept a lesser role or you gotta tank. '” The full episode featuring LeBron with Drake, Maverick Carter, Ben Simmons, Victor Oladipo, Mo Bamba And Elena Delle Donne airs Friday on HBO.<doc-sep>LeBron James has rubbed elbows with entertainers for years — Jay-Z saw him play when James was in high school. Last month James shared a stage with comedian Dave Chappelle. Last weekend he shared a stage with rapper Drake, who performed in front of a sellout crowd at Staples Center. Drake was also a guest on the second episode of James’ HBO show “The Shop.” Drake discussed his fractured relationship with Kanye West and his disdain for rapper Pusha T, as well as the unexpected nature of becoming a father and what it meant to tell his mother. “What you guys saw is who he is and a lot of things we talk about,” James said. “I’ve been knowing Drake since 2007. We’ve grown closer and closer every year, and I’m proud of who he is today. Not only as an artist, not only as a son. But as a father and he’s one of the biggest stars that we have on this planet right now, and it’s because of who he is and his hard work and dedication to his craft so, it’s pretty cool.” Advertisement James doesn’t take any of these kinds of relationships for granted. “I’m just blessed and honored that I can be in the same room with some of the greats in their respective fields,” James said. “…That’s Chappelle and Jay and Drake and I got an opportunity to speak to Barack Obama, be in the Oval Office. I was even, actually on stage with him before. So I just look at myself sometimes and say I’m just a kid from Akron and I’m able to be around people who will be known forever even long after their years of existence.” Starting guards? In Monday’s practice, the Lakers’ starting guards were Rajon Rondo and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. “KCP gives us shooting,” coach Luke Walton said. “He’s a guy that can defend multiple positions, get up in, put some pressure on guys. and Rondo’s an elite point guard in this league. Everyone on our team brings their own things to this table but I’ve liked what I’ve seen out of that group so far.” Rondo and Caldwell-Pope probably will start Thursday night in the season opener at Portland, but Walton was coy about his lineup. Of Lonzo Ball, Walton said, “Whether Lonzo starts or not is going to be based on where we’re at as a team and what’s working for us right now. He’s looked great and he continues to play better and better. Had another solid day today.” Ball, who had arthroscopic knee surgery in July, played in two preseason games after sitting out the first four. Advertisement Caldwell-Pope flew home from San Jose before the Lakers’ final preseason game last Friday to rehab right knee tendinitis. It’s unusual for a player to return home from a trip to rehab a minor injury, but Walton said the Lakers felt that was their best course of action because it was the preseason. He doesn’t anticipate the injury to linger. “In my medical opinion,” Walton said, “I think he’s gonna be just fine.” Wagner getting closer Advertisement Rookie Moe Wagner participated in a controlled three-on-three scrimmage after practice. Wagner, who suffered a knee bruise in July, did not play in any preseason games because of the injury. The 25th pick in the June draft, he has been cleared for non-contact activity. T tania.ganguli@latimes.com Advertisement Follow Tania Ganguli on Twitter @taniaganguli<doc-sep>The first episode of LeBron James’s HBO series The Shop established the parameters of the show, set to air periodically throughout the year. Obviously, it takes place in a barbershop. In each episode, a cast of successful people—the lion’s share of them athletes, all of them entertainers—deconstruct their success. It’s really good TV––they sip wine, they offer a side of themselves rarely seen in public, and LeBron James says swear words. Even the color palette is spare and direct. This, like most barbershops, is a space reserved strictly for real talk. In late August’s episode, LeBron spoke about having to get used to white people as well as about his activism and transition from athlete to statesman. On Friday night, Drake said that Pusha-T deserved to get punched in his fucking face. Many other galling things have demanded our attention since May, when we recoiled in shock and horror from a photo of Drake in blackface and a few sadistic bars about his producer and confidant Noah “40” Shebib’s ongoing battle with MS. So, a brief refresher: Drake and Kanye West’s GOOD Music have beef. But it’s no longer the sizzling beef it once was; it’s sort of cold and sad and gamey now, like beef from a freezer bag. The inciting offense in said beef was a reheated ghostwriting accusation against Drake that popped up at the end of “Infrared,” a song that Pusha-T and Kanye West conspired to make as the closer to Pusha’s Daytona album. Drake responded. Pusha-T responded. And finally, before there could be another Drake response, the spaghetti western fizzled out before its smoke-filled third act. Now, on his own time, with LeBron James on The Shop, Drake gets to tell his side of the story. First of all, there was a response. A very mean-spirited and hateful reponse. It was, in fact, a response so lethal and precise and vile and final that everyone would be better off without it in the world, just like J Prince said in early June. But instead of expending all that energy on someone else, Drake chose to funnel his inner rage into [checks notes] some of the best songs on Scorpion. Songs Drake said he wrote AFTER his beef with Pusha T/Kanye: Nonstop Mob Ties In My Feelings 8 Out of 10 pic.twitter.com/lrPh5kREwj — Complex (@Complex) October 13, 2018 Both Drake and LeBron are too careful with their public personas for us to ever know more than we’re supposed to, but over the half hour, you could learn quite a lot: about Drake’s relationship with his father (good); about becoming a father himself (unexpected); about coparenting (difficult); and also about his hairline, before his white Jewish mother felt comfortable going into a black-owned barbershop (jacked up). All of this was illuminating, but nothing Drake talked about was so salacious as—of course—the Kanye West stuff. “Lift Yourself” was originally intended for Drake; he did go to Wyoming to help West craft Ye; and yes, it was Kanye who betrayed his trust. “[Kanye] sold me on this whole speech, like, ‘I’m in a great place, I’m making money, I’m a father. I wanna be Quincy Jones and help you, but in order to do that, you gotta be transparent with me and you gotta play me your music and tell me when you’re dropping,’” Drake says. Drake goes on to talk about how he shared a picture of his son and the emotional song “March 14” with Kanye around that time, and the rest, as it were, is history. With Kanye making a fool of himself at the White House and Drake likely headed to his fourth no. 1 since Daytona was released, I’m inclined to say that’s check and mate. It’s also a lesson learned. There was a moment when Drake, glowing with pride over new fatherhood, showed LeBron a picture of his son. But he grabbed the phone back real quick. Disclosure: HBO is an initial investor in The Ringer.<doc-sep>
Drake has been all over the place this year with Scorpion, a huge beef, and his on-and-off Three Amigos Tour with Migos, but he actually hasn’t said much publicly – until now. LeBron James took to his Instagram not to assume A&R duties, but to announce that Drake will be on his The Shop show this Friday at 9:30PM ET on HBO. “We heard ya’ll wanted more of that ? so we hopped right back in the seat. Another one coming in the ✂️The Shop ?,” LeBron noted in his emoji-laden caption. One of the post’s commenters jokingly declared that, “this Friday a holiday,” reflecting the anticipation many have of two of the biggest stars in the world talking shop in the barbershop. The Shop has previously had rappers Snoop Dogg and Vince Staples on the show, which brings the Black Barbershop atmosphere to the small screen with an open forum on matters of the career, spanning across industries like comedy, music, and sports. In the clip LeBron posted, Drake was open about grappling with when to walk away from the rap game without suffering the consequences of staying too long: “I’ve watched people overstay their welcome and I just don’t ever want to be that guy that’s addicted to the feeling of victory, addicted to the emotion of people digesting something that they love, and get to a point where I’m feeding them something and they’re just like ‘yeah!’” LeBron then noted the importance of keeping your crew tight and not “having motherf*ckers around you that don’t keep it honest with you” and tell you when it’s time to “accept a lesser role.” After the massive sales of Scorpion, it doesn’t look like Drake will be occupying a lesser commercial role anytime soon, but the conversation seems insightful regardless.