During a recent sit-down with the hosts of the Cavs-centric podcast UNINTERRUPTED's ROAD TRIPPIN', LeBron James recounted a funny tale about the worst flight of his life.
Joined by baller buddy Dwyane Wade, 'Bron shared a story from his first year with the Cavaliers in 2003 when he flew on the team's plane, which was apparently super rickety.
"Our team plane at the time, I had always complained about our team plane. It was old. It was run down. And I’m not even a guy who is afraid of flights. I had one time—the first time I had ever flew—and then after that, I was good," began LeBron.
"But I always felt something could happen to this plane. It was painted the old Cavs colors, Carolina blue and orange. It was the old plane, and they owned it. The team owned it. But it was over. I noticed it, and this was the first year our new regime took over the team. I was like, 'Listen, if you want to start with helping us become a better franchise, we need a new f**king plane.'
So anyways, long story short, we take the plane from Cleveland…and we go to Detroit to pick up the ownership because that’s where they’re based at. So we go to Detroit, pick up everybody in Detroit, and we’re now taking the plane from Detroit to Houston. When I tell you every single person on the plane from Detroit to Houston thought they were going to die, I mean literally."
Our owner’s wife was pregnant at the time. She threw up multiple times. A couple of my family members—DJ Montage—threw up. Our stewardess broke her ankle. We looked into the kitchen at one point during the flight and there was smoke coming out of the kitchen. The lights were flickering on and off. I was like, 'Oh my God, no one wants to listen to me. I believe this is it.' Obviously, I’m still here to talk about it. Nothing happened. But the following year, we had a new plane."
Jump to 33:15 to hear LeBron tell the story.
