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TEAM USA basketball coaches and players are realizing the greatness of LeBron James during their training camp.
Team USA head coach Steve Kerr has coached and played alongside some of the greatest players in NBA history.
Kerr coached Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green to four championships.
He also played alongside Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippin, Shaquille O'Neal, and Tim Duncan, winning five championships as a player.
However, Kerr never got to share the same squad as LeBron James, until now.
As the coach of Team USA, Kerr is watching James get ready for the Olympics, and he is blown away.
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It isn't the talent of LeBron that has Kerr impressed, anyone can see that from watching him play, but it is his work ethic.
"I was blown away by how hard he practices," Kerr said after the first practice.
"And I went to Ty and Spo and I said, 'Is this normal?'
"They said, 'Every day, every day.' To Spo I said, 'What about way back when you got him?'
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"Spo said, 'Every day. Every drill, every walkthrough.'"
James is entering his age 40 season, but he hasn't slowed down yet and isn't showing his age at camp.
"I just feel incredibly honored to be coaching LeBron, and it's definitely way better to coach him than coach against him," Kerr said.
"I can tell you that."
LeBron also expressed some excitement about playing on the same team as Kerr and Curry for the first time in his career.
"There's always been mutual respect obviously," James said.
"We're both competitors. He's a competitor as a coach and he was a competitor as a player...
"But it's mostly just mutual respect and admiration. I'm happy to be on the same side as him right now, and also happy to be on the same side as his point guard as well with Steph being here too, so that's going to be pretty fun."
What the new TV deal means for the NBA?
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By The U.S. Sun's Assistant Sports Editor Damian Burchardt.
THE new TV rights deal is promising to be a humongous win for NBA players.
The league is set to more than double the revenue coming from its media partners, pocketing about $6.9 billion per year, which will inevitably lead to a huge salary cap spike in 2025-26.
That is going to send the value of player contracts skyrocketing.
Projected figures suggest we might see the first $100 million-per-year deal being signed soon.
Currently, Boston Celtics All-Star Jayson Tatum is projected to earn the highest single-season salary in NBA history, collecting $71.5 million in 2029-30.
It does feel like basketball fans would be on the losing side of the fight if the NBA and TNT indeed parted ways, though.
Inside the NBA is a one-of-a-kind sports entertainment show, as evidenced by ESPN's ongoing failure to come up with its own version of the program in recent years.
The NBA won't be the same without Kenny and Ernie trying to make sense of Shaq and Chuck's never-ending bickering every Tuesday night.
Fans shared their admiration for LeBron after hearing Kerr rave about him at Olympic training camp.
"Love him, hate him, don’t matter. Gotta respect the work ethic it takes to maintain that high a level at anything for that long," one fan said.
"Gotta respect that. Bring that gold home! Go Team USA," another fan said.
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"No way you do it for 22 years without putting the work in," a third fan said.
"LeBron James is amazing as a person and athlete," a fourth fan said.