Le Batard & Friends Presents: The Step Back

Lebron Inc. (feat. Pablo Torre)

June 16, 2026·37 min
Episode Description from the Publisher

The Step Back is back — and this time, it's personal. Or at least, it's financial. After a brief hiatus, Dan, Amin, and Izzy return with Pablo Torre to dig into his landmark 2017 ESPN feature on LeBron James — not the player chasing rings, but the architect quietly building an empire. What Phil Jackson famously dismissed as a "posse" — a word that told you everything about who was really threatened — turns out to have been a boardroom in disguise. Maverick Carter, Rich Paul, Randy Mims: ridiculed first, respected later, inevitable in hindsight. This is the episode where The Step Back steps sideways — from flashpoints to foresight — to ask how a kid from Akron turned loyalty into leverage, and a group of friends into a seat at the table that nobody wanted to give them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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