Kevin Merida is a contributing essayist for The Post. He is the former executive editor of the Los Angeles Times, a former senior vice president of ESPN and a former managing editor of The Post.

“Mind the Game” is a cerebral podcast, as its title might suggest, an astute, contemplative listen about the strategies and vagaries of professional basketball. It stars LeBron James, who is in the epilogue of his marvelous career, still in contemplation on how to end it.

“Mind the Game” is more than a podcast in the global ether of 4.5 million such shows. It’s a showcase for LeBron’s hoops knowledge, a window into his mind. Impressively co-hosted by NBA Hall of Famer Steve Nash, “Mind the Game” tells you a lot about how one of the world’s greatest athletes thinks and interacts.

As one fan commented on the podcast’s YouTube page: “It’s all basketball insights, no time wasted.”

I randomly binge-watched episode after episode on YouTube, seeing LeBron always pour the red wine and sometimes hang back while Nash took the lead and guests such as Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant occupied the spotlight. It’s fascinating to observe LeBron both patiently listen to other great players and choose which moments to expound on the thing he knows best: basketball.

He has strong opinions about his disappointments with today’s media culture, the necessity of preparation, routine and conditioning, and the hidden pressures of superstardom. He has a microscopic memory (he can recount details about 1990s Sacramento Kings players) and a studied view that there is a right way to learn and play the game that doesn’t change from youth hoops to the pros.

“Basketball IQ 101 is basketball IQ 101 on any level,” LeBron said on one episode.

Follow Opinions on the news

Intellect is one of those words that sometimes drips with pomposity and pretentiousness, especially in the wrong hands. But it is a worthy word, one that conjures promise and potential, especially in the right hands. It is a word that deserves more consideration from us, and by that I mean more elasticity and less snobbery.

LeBron James would not be considered an intellectual by any conventional measure. He has very little formal education. He did graduate from high school, but his young self was devoted to and consumed by basketball. He didn’t go to college. I would not describe him as a candidate for the TED Talk Hall of Fame. He is not what teachers might call “book smart,” well-read smart. He sometimes does puzzling things that make you wonder about him — like taking........

© Washington Post