If you need a reminder, LeBron James is actually left-handed

In honor of International Left-Handers Day, here’s a reminder that LeBron James is among the relative minority of southpaws.

On the note that everything seems to need its own special day of acknowledgment these days, Tuesday is International Left-Handers Day. For lefties trying to operate in a world geared toward right-handers, it’s a day to embrace and celebrate the ongoing struggle I suppose.

The world’s best athletes can typically ply their craft ambidextrously, meaning they can do things pretty much equally well with both hands. For basketball players, perhaps especially, being able to dribble and/or finish with either hand is practically a mandatory skill. A left-handed pitcher who reaches the big leagues, barring injury, could have a job until he’s into his 40’s working as a reliever. As an opposite example of the southpaw tangent, golfer Phil Mickelson plays left-handed but does everything else in life right-handed.

It’s already out there that LeBron James is left-handed, as a simple Google search can confirm for those who have forgotten. But as we know, he plays basketball and shoots right-handed.

In May of 2017, when he was apparently asked about it, James explained why he became a right-handed player and shooter.

James pointed to Michael Jordan and Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway, who he looked up to growing up, as the influences on his being a right-handed basketball player while also rightly pointing out how it was important to develop skill with both hands. He also expressed some regret he didn’t stick as a left-handed shooter, and he happens to be right about how those shots look cooler.

Naturally, someone went to the trouble to create a video,  flipping a set of television broadcast shots backward with the hypothetical “If LeBron James Shot Left Handed.”

So take heart, left-handers. LeBron James counts himself among you and knows your struggle to fit in.