The Big Lead

LeBron James, Steph Curry have an obvious opportunity to form their own cast

By J.P. Hoornstra

Dec 25, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (left) and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (right) talk before the game at Chase Center.
Dec 25, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (left) and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (right) talk before the game at Chase Center. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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At 40, LeBron James is the same age as two head coaches in the NBA. Remarkably, so is Stephen Curry at age 36. The question of when the two era-defining talents will transition into the next phase of their careers is unavoidable.

Both men already have an incredible head start. James co-founded the SpringHill Company in 2020. Curry co-founded Unanimous Media in 2018. It's not hard to see them taking a more day-to-day role in their development and production companies once they step off the court for good.

Their retirements are inevitable. Considering what the game between LeBron's Lakers and Steph's Warriors did for the NBA on Christmas Day, the "R" word should be practically taboo in the league's executive offices. ESPN issued two press releases touting the massive impact the Warriors-Lakers game had on NBA ratings.

Not only was it the most-watched NBA regular season game since 2019 (7.763 million average viewership), it helped NBA viewership nudge 5 percent higher for the season compared to the same point a year ago.

A bit farther down in one ESPN press release was this nugget: "Christmas action began at noon with the San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks game, which averaged nearly five million viewers (4,997,000). ESPN's coverage included its Dunk the Halls animated alt-cast, which contributed to the Spurs vs. Knicks contest becoming the most-watched noon Christmas game in 13 years, since 2011. It was up 101 percent from the Knicks vs. Milwaukee Bucks game last year."

The "alt-cast" was hardly a novelty. Peyton and Eli Manning's "ManningCast" has become a staple on ESPN2. On Dec. 10, ESPN, the NFL and the production team behind the Simpsons teamed up to create a Simpsons-themed "alt-cast" of a Bengals-Cowboys game.

ESPN toyed with KayRod and Statcast alt-casts for MLB. The trend isn't going anywhere; in fact, it's expanding into new sports. So let's connect the dots.

The NBA would love nothing more than to have LeBron and Steph become as synonymous with Christmas as Vince Guaraldi and ugly sweaters. LeBron and Steph need high-quality content to fuel their companies' income; post-retirement, they'll have time to create that content themselves. The trend lines point to one inevitable outcome: a LeStephCast.

Curl up with the two stars every Dec. 25 as they commentate the daily slate of NBA games on ESPN until their creative fires burn out. Perhaps by relegating the LeStephCast to a once-a-year event, their passion keeps fresh like a yule log on YouTube. Leave it to the two stars and their business associates to sort out the revenue split between SpringHill and Unanimous.

The idea is so obvious, it should probably be in the works already. Get on that, NBA.

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