LeBron James compares patience required to lead Cavaliers to patience necessary with his first child

When LeBron James called teaching the Cavaliers the biggest challenge of his career, it sounded haughty.

But wait until you get a load of this.

LeBron in an interview with Rachel Nichols of CNN that will air Saturday:

“You know, in Miami, it was myself and D. Wade. We shared that leadership. And I knew coming here that I would have to be the sole leader. I knew one thing that I knew I had to work on -- and I’m always working on every day—is my patience… So I almost had to go back to having my first child, and understanding, ‘Okay, this is a kid. And they have to learn. And you have to be patient with them. And then at some point, they’ll start to get it.’”

LeBron is the Cavaliers’ leader. There’s nothing wrong with him drawing on his experiences in and out of basketball to better handle that role. It’s helpful.

But do his teammates really enjoy hearing this comparison?

Does Kyrie Irving, who already explained why LeBron wasn’t a father figure to him? Does Kevin Love, who seems to take himself pretty seriously (and, as might have heard, can become a free agent this summer)? Does anyone?

These guys aren’t as good as LeBron, but they’re all grown men. They’ve all put in a ton of work to get where they are today.

I doubt they like being publicly compared to children. I also doubt they’ll do anything about it. The task at hand in the NBA Finals is too great to address petty squabbles now, and when you can play with LeBron, the good outweighs the bad.