It was a historic night for LeBron James in the Los Angeles Lakers’ victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night, but the greatest player of his generation made sure to make time for ESPN’s Lisa Salters.
Don’t look now but the Lakers are on their best winning streak in quite some time, winning seven games in a row to lift themselves to a 44-25 record on the season. That included back-to-back victories over Kevin Durant and the Rockets, including the 124-116 win on Wednesday.
James was exceptional in the victory, scoring 3o points on 13-14 shooting from the field, matching his best shooting effort in a game throughout his illustrious 23-year NBA career. The fact that he is still performing at such a high level at 41 years of age is probably one of the most under-covered stories in sports, if that’s even possible when talking about LeBron James.
James took a hard foul from Jabari Smith in the fourth quarter, appearing to hurt his elbow. But he made a point to still visit with ESPN sideline reporter Lisa Salters after the game and made sure that the nation knew of his appreciation for her and her work.
“I love you, you’re awesome, so I had to come back and do this interview for you.” @KingJames came back for the interview with @saltersl even though he needs to ice his elbow 😂👑 pic.twitter.com/pgoMr6RuWM
— ESPN (@espn) March 19, 2026
“I love you, you’re awesome, so I had to come back and do this interview for you,” James told Salters before conducting his postgame interview.
ESPN agreed to a new contract extension with Lisa Salters before the beginning of the 2025-2026 NBA season. She has been a fixture on the sidelines for the NBA Finals and other top broadcasts for years, both in basketball and in football on Monday Night Football.
The Emmy winner has been one of the best at her craft for many years now, but doesn’t always get the appreciation she deserves as she is a total professional in going about her business. So for LeBron James to give her that recognition before their postgame interview was a nice touch of class.