As part of a recent phone interview with Kendra Andrews of The Athletic, Denver Nuggets forward Paul Millsap revealed that he was less than pleased with LeBron James' decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers in favor of the Los Angeles Lakers.

James initially left the Cavs in 2010. Most hoops fans remember the ESPN interview in which he announced that he would be “taking his talents to South Beach” to play with the Miami Heat. Four years and two championships later (2014), the Akron native returned to his hometown team, later leading the Cavs to their first NBA championship (2016). Following the 2018 season, however, James decided to once again leave Northeast Ohio. This time, it was to join the Lakers.

During his interview with The Athletic, Millsap noted that he was trying to get away from LeBron James in the Eastern Conference:

“I told him, ‘Man, I tried to get away from you in the East,'” Millsap told The Athletic in a phone interview. “‘Then you came to the West.’ But finally, we’re at this juncture in the Western Conference Finals fighting to get to the championship game. He’s got several championships and I’m trying to get my first and I feel like this is my time to do that.”

Remember, Millsap was once a productive member of the Atlanta Hawks. The two players have faced one another eight times in the postseason, with James holding an 8-0 record against Millsap, who is now with the Nuggets.

So … does Paul Millsap have any extra motivation to beat LeBron James and the Lakers this season? Of course he does:

“I’d be lying I said I didn’t,” Millsap said on having a personal goal of beating James in the conference finals.

“I felt like we had really good teams and we always came up short and at the end of the day I’m just tired of coming up short in those situations, especially against him,” Millsap said. “Nothing personal, but you want to compete against the best and beat the best and I’m ready to make that next step.”

Paul Millsap won't have to wait much longer to get another crack at LeBron James. Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals is set to tip at 9:00 p.m. ET on Friday night.