Sports Poets Society

Mark Clennon for TIME https://time.com/collection/time100-sports/2026/lebron-james/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=090626&fbclid=IwY2xjawSWYz9leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFvcGtNYThYM2JIYUZMT0ZJc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHoFMm92aGmy1KSeHgrYWV2AqaTEfXsyL9YWbgT0e8YuFkDmLwjecQCq6site_aem_YWdncwBX8IWgPDprVFzlQElrnfWi&brid=YWdncwGAGOOvWlkhtSlgdJcgktcM TIME Jun 09, 2026 by  Sean Gregory/El Segundo, Calif. Senior Correspondent Mark Clennon for TIME A purple smock adorned with smiley faces cloaks LeBron James ’ body around 7:30 a.m. one mid-April morning, as he’s groomed for a magazine cover shoot at the Los Angeles Lakers practice facility in El Segundo, Calif. Typically, this would be awful timing for a reflective talk with one of the world’s most famous people. James hasn’t been sleeping well. His speech is groggy. A first-round playoff series with the Houston Rockets opens in three days. He has practice soon. But throu...

AT 25, MANCHESTER CITY’S ERLING HAALAND IS OUTSCORING SOME OF SOCCER’S GREATEST STARS ‘I HAD NOT SEEN ANYONE ARRIVE IN THE ELITE  LEAGUE IN THE WORLD AND JUST UTTERLY BEND IT TO HIS WILL.’ —ROGER BENNETT, FOUNDER AND CEO      OF THE MEN IN BLAZERS MEDIA NETWORK ‘I DIDN’T KNOW I WAS FAMOUS IN THE U.S. —EVERYONE KNOWS WHO I AM.’ —ERLING HAALAND 18 Aug 2025 TIME International BY SEAN GREGORY/ MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, PHILADELPHIA, AND BOCA RATON, FLA. TWO OF THE MOST VALUABLE FEET ON the planet are burning. It’s a stifling midjune afternoon and Erling Haaland, the superstar Manchester City striker from Norway who looks like Thor but sometimes celebrates goals by meditating in the lotus pose, is walking on the piping hot sand in Boca Raton, Fla. The heat is so intense that I start skittering to the wet sand in desperate need of relief, but Haaland, who has insisted on removing his sandals, simply saunters to a cooler stretch of seashore. “No pain,” he says, flashing a smile....