LeBron James Calls Leah Still One of His Favorite Women in the World
The King has been humbled and taken aback by a 5-year-old.
LeBron James credits his 34-point performance in his Cleveland Cavaliers' 121-115 road win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday night to Leah Still and her dad, former Cincinnati Bengals defensive player Devon Still, being in attendance.
To say Leah inspires James would be an understatement. She successfully battled a rare form of pediatric cancer, neuroblastoma, for upwards of a year, having won the Jimmy V Perseverance award at the 2015 ESPYs for her fight and determined spirit.
And James felt her presence Wednesday night, even getting the chance to briefly hang out with the brave little girl after the game.
"Absolutely," James told ESPN and fellow reporters about whether Leah being in attendance affected his game. "I knew she was going to be there tonight, and her and Zhuri, my baby girl, are my two favorite women in the world. They're just unbelievable. I know my mom and my wife will be a little bit jealous, but they got to take a backseat to those two. Just her strength and her courage and what she's been through over the last few years, man, it's uplifting to all of us, and it's always great seeing her, for sure."
James added: "I got a daughter, and then just also being a father and seeing what Devon was going through at the time to keep that strength and keep his composure when his daughter was going through what she was going through, it just resonated, man. And from that point on, we became good friends, and I'm good friends with Devon. Obviously, Leah is like a little sister of mine, or maybe she probably wishes I was like a dad to her, too. You know, like I said, it's always great seeing her."
Still captured the moment of Leah and LeBron hanging out, posting the image and video on his Instagram account.
Nice moment for sure.
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(Photo from left: Devon Still via Instagram, Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)