In his free time, when LeBron James isn't entertaining his family, you might find him at it “the sticks”. And his favorite game is Madden. During the Netflix series Starting 5, King James' animated behavior while playing the game was seen unfiltered. Every touchdown or stop is celebrated as if his favorite NFL team had done it, the Cleveland Browns might have done it. However, it soon became an obsession.

One of the reasons James started playing basketball was to become the greatest of all time. This mentality has taken root in the virtual world of Madden 25. He spends hours playing the game and recently even shared some fixes that EA should implement to improve the experience for fans. “Help me understand the changes in online H2H.” he pleaded with the $34 billion company. But despite the difficulties, the 39-year-old hasn't stopped playing the game.

And he is simply one of the best players in the world. No, we're serious. In his recent Instagram Story, the Akron Hammer shared a surreal achievement by earning him top 100 nominations in the game. “LFG”, He wrote as the excitement of finally reaching the milestone washed over him.

It's unclear if the Madden grind was the reason, but James did not participate in the Lakers' final preseason contest against the Golden State Warriors. In some ways, his performance could be bittersweet as he missed the best performance of his son Bronny, who scored 17 points. The crazy thing is that it's only been four years since LeBron James committed to playing. And a terrible loss drove him to revive his ambitions.

A loss to Anthony Davis brought LeBron James back to Madden

Originally, when he was young, James was an avid gamer. An image of him with a PlayStation 2 might come to mind for some fans. However, as time passed, family and other commitments diminished his love of gaming. However, there were no distractions in the Orlando bubble in 2020. The players had to stay in their rooms and had nothing to do.

So James returned to the world of gaming. Anthony Davis remembers those times fondly. “It was in the top three. Me, Quin Cook and Markeiff Morris,” he said in a podcast. LeBron James was nowhere in the picture at the time. His running mate regularly “cooked” him during the tournament the Lakers hosted during their time in Orlando.

These losses gave him meaning. So the process began, and from that point until the beginning of this year, Davis talked about the magnitude of his achievements. “I think he is now in the top 1000 in the world” He told Join The Lobby co-hosts. James seems to like the X's and O's. And as gaming evolves, his intelligent mind works well with the complex Madden system.

He has since taken the same approach with the game's latest release and has become a top 100 player. Enough said, right?