LeBron James began his tour of Asia on Monday by exchanging gifts with another former child prodigy.
He is scheduled to visit Taiwan to conclude the tour, with stops in Kaohsiung and Taipei.
The Cleveland Cavaliers star was greeted by pianist Lang Lang at the Wukesong Sports Center in Beijing in front of hundreds of basketball fans.
Photo: Reuters
The two exchanged gifts, with Lang Lang receiving a pair of basketball shoes and James getting an album of Lang Lang’s music and a CD with the FIFA Brazil World Cup theme music.
The two stars also played the piano together — a “piano dunk,” as Lang Lang called it.
“Every time I come here, the game of basketball grows more and more,” James told the crowd. “It’s been great all the way from before I came to 2008 Beijing Olympics and all the way now for me to come back in 2014. The game continues to rise, and I think that’s amazing.”
The five-day trip is sponsored by Nike. James is also to visit Guangzhou in China, before moving on to Hong Kong.
“I am very blessed, and the game of basketball has given me everything and more than I can dream of to my family, myself and my friends, and that’s why for me, I always give everything I can to the game, when I am on the basketball floor, both on and off court, because it has given me so much things that I never dreamed about,” James said.
“I always dreamed about being in the NBA and wearing an NBA uniform, but being known all over the world, I have never dreamed about that, but basketball has given me that and I don’t take it for granted,” the player said.
Earlier this month, James left the Miami Heat after four seasons and four trips to the NBA Finals and re-signed with the Cavaliers, where his career began.
While with the Heat, the team won two championships, in 2012 and last year. This season they were beaten in the finals by the San Antonio Spurs.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS