LeBron James is now 41, searching for what would be his fifth NBA championship during his career. While there may be a lot of debate on whether he is the greatest player of all time, James is certainly very close to the top and continues to show an elite mentality that recently led to his whopping 22nd All-Star selection.

And well, his famous ‘Zero Dark Thirty-23’ playoff routine was just more evidence of that same mentality, when he would turn off his phone and social media for close to two months.

“I did that. I just started to read a lot. I wanted it to start tapping into things that were just uncomfortable, something I didn’t even know I could do. But, who's going to hold me more accountable than myself as I continue to mention? So, just through a whole playoff run, I would just turn my phone off completely,” he revealed recently during the Mind the Game podcast alongside actor Timothee Chalamet, per a post on X by ClutchPoints.

During playoff runs, James would completely switch off his phone and social media to lock in, a practice which began during his 2013 run with the Miami Heat and ended during 2020’s Bubble season.

“My loved ones who needed to get in contact with me, Randy was there with me everyday. If they wanted to get into contact they would call him. If it was an emergency, they would come knock at my door. Other than that, nobody could get into contact with me for two and a half straight months,” he revealed.

Article Continues Below

Chalamet claimed that he himself was inspired to do something similar during the filming of his movies, as James went on to explain what he did with the resultant free time.

“I was doing a lot of reading, a lot of reflection, a lot of meditating just on what I wanted to accomplish in my career. It had nothing to do with the naysayers on the haters, it was never about that. It was (about) what can I do with my career? And that’s why I did it,” he said.

Historically, the results have been strong. From the start of that routine through the late 2010s, James reached six consecutive NBA Finals.

Of course, a major source of criticism from LeBron’s ‘haters’ has always been that he went 2–4 in those Finals and 12–22 in Finals games. Still, not a single fan can ever question his work ethic and commitment to the game, which will soon lead him to become the most capped NBA player as well, in addition to his long list of achievements. James is currently on 1605 appearances, just six behind Robert Parrish.