Obama says he played secret pickup game with LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Warriors at WH
“Having LeBron suddenly guard you – this mountain of a human – you never feel so small and weak," Obama joked.
Former President Barack Obama’s love of basketball is no secret as he often hosted pickup games around the Washington, D.C. area during his time in the White House.
From Magic Johnson to Scottie Pippen, Obama played hoops with several NBA legends. Speaking to actor Dax Shepherd and Monica Padman on the Armchair Expert podcast, Obama revealed that he once played a secret pick-up game with Lebron James and Dwyane Wade for his 49th birthday, Mediaite reports.
“For my 49th birthday, we had an All-Star Game that was just kind of for us. LeBron came. Dwyane Wade, and Derrick Rose; all these amazing NBA players. Each team had three NBA players and two amateurs. All my high school friends came over. We had this round-robin tournament, and we had Wounded Warriors who we invited to watch; we signed autographs and gave shoes away afterward,” Obama explained.
“One of the perks of being president is, you can invite people to the White House and they show up,” Obama told Shepard and Padman.
“Having LeBron suddenly guard you – this mountain of a human – you never feel so small and weak,” Obama joked. “You just pass the ball, or hand it to him and say here, I’m not worthy.”
Johnson came out of retirement to play with some of the league’s best for Obama’s 50th birthday at the White House.
“Team sports at its best, is a great equalizer,” Obama said about his love for the sport. “There were coaches’ favorites and some politics behind the scenes…but basically, when you were on the court it was like, how did you play, rather than who you were.”
Last year, Obama posted a video on Twitter of him shooting his shot, literally. As previously reported by theGRIO, the viral video showed him making a 3-point shot and walking off, saying, “That’s what I do!”
The 19-second clip garnered 2 million views and in the tweet he included a link to IWillVote.com to encourage people to get to the polls for the 2020 presidential election.
Joe Biden, who was the Democratic Presidential nominee at the time, can be seen walking behind, impressed, saying, “Whoa! All net!”
Back in 2019, it was announced that Obama would play a hands-on role in a new NBA-backed basketball league in Africa, USA Today reported.
“The Basketball Africa League is an important next step in our continued development of the game of basketball in Africa,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver in a statement. “Combined with our other programs on the continent, we are committed to using basketball as an economic engine to create new opportunities in sports, media and technology across Africa.”
At the time, Obama announced on Twitter: “I’ve always loved basketball because it’s about building a team that’s equal to more than the sum of its parts. Glad to see this expansion into Africa because for a rising continent, this can be about a lot more than what happens on the court.”
*This story contains additional reporting from Ashley Terrell.
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