Masai Ujiri might be with the Denver Nuggets now, but he still has memories of what LeBron James did to his Toronto Raptors team in the 2010s. It was a decade when the Eastern Conference was dominated by James, as he made the NBA Finals from 2011 all the way to 2018 with two teams.

However, it was during his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers that he dominated against Ujiri's team. It got so bad that Toronto became known as LeBronto by people in NBA circles.

Masai Ujiri recalls his experience seeing LeBron James work out

As the architect of the Raptors teams in the 2010s, it was tough to have awesome regular season campaigns be shot down by James in the postseason. It became so bad that people have forgotten all of those impressive Raptors seasons.

LeBron was truly the dominant force in the Eastern Conference back then. That notion was further strengthened when he left the East to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. In the first year he was not in the East, the Raptors won the championship in 2019.

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Since then, Ujiri has had many memories involving James. However, he has told a story about how he was impressed by seeing James work out early in the morning, which was a glimpse into what makes him such a good player.

"LeBron was in the gym, running on a treadmill backwards, and his trainers were not even there yet. It's 5:30 in the morning; what is happening here? His guys come, and he does this incredible workout for an hour and a half, and that's not in front of anybody," Ujiri said about James' work ethic while on One 4 Africa.

"What he does with himself in preparation, his mindset, and how much he loves this game. I got my ass kicked by that guy, I hated that guy with a passion."

That early morning was proof that Ujiri needed to know that he was facing off against one of the greatest players in NBA history. Even if he's 41 now with the Philadelphia 76ers, he is likely working out like that, which should still spell trouble for the rest of the league.

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