Why Was LeBron James Walking Around With a J. Cole Vinyl Record?

During his 23-season reign over the NBA, we’ve learned some things about LeBron James’s off-the-court interests. He likes to fill idle time by doodling (shout out to his hand-drawn Bart Simpson in the Off-White fit). He appreciates the “genius” work of Goosebumps author R.L. Stine. And, perhaps above all else, the man loves music.

Given that his formative years coincided with the golden age of hip-hop, James is a well-documented admirer of giants of the genre like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, Nas, and Jay-Z. But it’s not all ’90s classics for the 41-year-old basketball deity. He’s called Kendrick Lamar an “unbelievable talent,” posted videos of himself turning up to Lil Baby, and popped up in a Tyler, the Creator video last year. Now, we have a new data point to study in LeBron’s ongoing rap obsession. The man with the most points in NBA history has a new nickname: LeVinyl James.

On Thursday, photos hit the internet of James walking around in a vibe-y springtime outfit. The King stepped out in striped shorts, a crisp white tank layered beneath a light-blue Louis Vuitton button-up, and matching Air Force 1s. On his head, he wore a checkerboard LV bucket hat pulled low over a pair of wire-rimmed glasses. A glistening stack of diamond chains hung around his neck. But the real eyebrow raiser was what he held in his right hand: A copy of J. Cole’s 2026 album The Fall-Off on vinyl. Cole, who is almost exactly one year younger than James, has experienced a similar journey to the legendary Laker. The rapper’s mainstream breakthrough came with his second album, Born Sinner, which dropped in 2013, right as James was really tightening his grip on the league. Both Cole and James were prolific during the mid-2010s, and after some time away from the mountaintop—Cole went five years between projects, James hasn’t been to the NBA Finals since 2020—both are plotting their returns to the summit.

Whether the Lakers can withstand the heat of the Western Conference playoffs is yet to be determined, as is the lasting legacy of The Fall-Off, but the parallels are there. For J. Cole—the dude who famously went double platinum with no features—his latest record features assists from some true A-listers. Like LeBron teaming up with Luka Dončić, Cole called upon Future, Erykah Badu, Burna Boy, and more to guest on his newest tracks. While we haven’t been blessed by a classic, emoji-filled tweet from James sharing his thoughts on the album, the fact that he literally toted a physical copy of it around as an accessory feels like a strong stamp of approval. (Not to mention that the maneuver of carrying a vinyl record as an accessory feels so post-post-peak tunnel fit as to be almost an act of performance art.)

Several questions do remain here. For starters: Why was James doing this? Is he dabbling in the tried-and-true forty-something male hobby of getting really into vinyl? Does the warm, crackling sensory experience of a 12-inch appeal to him more than the compressed, digital sound of streaming services? Is it possible that the Lakers have a record player in the locker room? (It’s fun to imagine a book club sort of scenario where each player is tasked with bringing something on wax to the pregame shootaround.) With the photos surfacing in the midst of a Lakers road trip, was he potentially bringing his copy of The Fall-Off along as a fun little mood setter for his hotel rooms in Houston and Miami? Was he so ashamed by his recent inability to identify ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” that he felt compelled to publicly reestablish his abiding passion for music?

We might never know the real answers to any of these questions. But this much is clear: 22-time NBA All-Star LeBron James has at least a passing interest in vinyl records, he likes what he’s hearing from J. Cole these days, and his outfit was fire.