Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
LeBron James has always publicly said he believes in his teammates.
Privately? Not so much.
James admitted to ESPN's Rachel Nichols there was a point during the regular season he was unsure whether the Cleveland Cavaliers would make the playoffs.
"It was at points where, 'OK, will the Cavs even make the playoffs?'" James said Wednesday. "And I was like, 'OK, I am not settling for that conversation—now that is just ridiculous. Now I have got to get into the postseason.'"
Struggling with a new roster of ill-fitting parts, the Cavs lost nine of 12 games during a difficult stretch in December and January. James himself even struggled during that period, scoring under 20 points five times and playing lackadaisical defense.
"I was like, 'OK, I am not quite sure what we are going to do with this ball club; we are not playing good basketball,' but you can't sell yourself short," James told Nichols. "You have so many people looking up to you, you have so many kids to inspire and you, yourself, you have always talked about be as great as you can be every day, so I kind of hit that switch before the trade deadline."
This article will be updated to provide more information on this story as it becomes available.
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