--- title: LeBron James Accepts SI Sportsperson of the Year Award description: LeBron James was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated last week, becoming the second athlete to win the award multiple times canonical: https://time.com/4599041/lebron-james-sports-illustrated-sportsperson-of-the-year/ author: Sports Illustrated article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-13T14:41:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:56:28.925Z article:section: Sports og:title: Watch LeBron James Accept His SI Sportsperson of the Year Award og:description: "It’s never about the individual" og:url: https://time.com/4599041/lebron-james-sports-illustrated-sportsperson-of-the-year/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bd5dcf33dd68045/6988b2c1428a9e818bcd544c/lebron-james-sportsperson-award.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Ceremony 2016 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch LeBron James Accept His SI Sportsperson of the Year Award twitter:description: "It’s never about the individual" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9bd5dcf33dd68045/6988b2c1428a9e818bcd544c/lebron-james-sportsperson-award.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch LeBron James Accept His Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Award > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: LeBron James accepts 2016 Sportsperson of the Year award [Watch (HLS stream): LeBron James accepts 2016 Sportsperson of the Year award](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/cK74soPY.m3u8) (6:40)  _Published 2016-12-13. LeBron James was introduced by longtime friend Jay Z as he accepted the 2016 Sportsperson of the Year award_ by [Sports Illustrated](https://time.com/author/sports-illustrated/) ## Sports Illustrated Dec 13, 2016 2:41 PM UTC by [Sports Illustrated](https://time.com/author/sports-illustrated/) ## Sports Illustrated Dec 13, 2016 2:41 PM UTC LeBron James was honored Monday at the SI Sportsperson of the Year awards show and delivered an honest, touching and funny speech while accepting his award. James was [named Sportsperson of the Year by _Sports Illustrated_](http://www.si.com/nba/2016/12/12/lebron-james-sportsperson-year-sports-illustrated-cover) last week, becoming the second athlete to win the award multiple times. During his acceptance speech, James spoke about how Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Bill Russell paved the way for him to be in this position, and how the award was about those who supported him along the way. “It’s never about the individual,” James said. “It’s always about the people behind him. It’s always about the people that’s behind the camera. It’s always about the people that don’t get the credit. It’s always about the people that sacrifice what they could be doing with their lives for the better of the individual.” He also cracked a few jokes about Michael Phelps and [his bet with Dwyane Wade](http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/12/02/lebron-james-chicago-cubs-uniform-bet-dwyane-wade-bulls), of course. _This_ [_article_](http://www.si.com/nba/2016/12/12/lebron-james-si-sportsperson-award-speech-video) _originally appeared on_ [_SI.com_](http://www.si.com) ## Transcript Please rise. The Sports Person of the Year, King James. [ MUSIC ] [ APPLAUSE ] So first of all, tie Rain and Brooke. I got a 2 year old daughter at home right now and that's all I could see while I'm watching you guys up there, you guys are incredible. [ APPLAUSE ] You. Man. For this type of an events when I receive an award and. Obviously, my PR guy sitting over there, Adam. He always asks me, do you got something written up? Or you know what you're going to say? And I say, no. I have no idea what I'm going to say. It's going to just come from the heart, and I'm going to speak. And hopefully, you guys like it. And I believe you will, because my heart is pure. So. First of all I wanna thank Sports Illustrated. [ LAUGH ] Thank you. I wanna thank Sports Illustrated for this award. It was so many unbelievable achievements of 2016 and we seen so many great athletes Obviously, Mike Phelps, you guys, we talk about you at the crib so much man. You're literally a fish. [ LAUGH ] Literally, I have no idea how you do what you do. You would definitely win the game that me and my boys play. Let's see who can stay underwater the longest. And not come up. You're not invited today [ UNKNOWN ] by the way. The Chicago Cubs, unfortunately, if you guys seen, about a week ago I had a trip to Chicago where I made a bet with a good friend. And had to wear the uniform to the game. To the Chicago Cubs and Coach John Maddon congratulations to you guys. Into every other story in 2016, it was just so many that it's hard to talk about them all. But as I stand up here, I'm not really supposed to be up here. This award is not for me. When I break it down to you guys understand what I mean. This award is for my wife. This aware is for my mother. This award is for my three kids that's back home. [ APPLAUSE ] This award is for my mother, and for my mother- in- law, for my father- in- law, for my sister, for my foundation and all 2300 kids that I got in my foundation. [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] This award is for the great Muhammad Ali. [ APPLAUSE ] For Bill Russell and For Jim Brown. [ APPLAUSE ] for Kareem Abdul- Jabbar, because at the end of the day I'm not standing up here if. You four gentlemen claim, [ UNKNOWN ], Mohammed, [ UNKNOWN ] sited on that table that night in the 1960s, and no matter it wasn't about you guys, it wasn't about you guys. The most four dominate athletes at that time, didn't care what happened to them. They sacrificed that could have happened to them. Could have been stripped of everything that they'd accomplished to that point. Can't play football no more, can't play basketball no more, can't fight no more. But their calling and their reason for doing what they had to do was for a night like tonight. That in 2016 in Brooklyn, New York, that we all could sit up here as African Americans, as white Americans. As Mexicans, as people from the Dominican Republic, Big Papi I see you. Francisco I see you, Puerto Rico. And we all can sit in one room and just say, wow. This is an unbelievable night and not only in sports but in life. So as I stand up here As the recipient of the 2016 sports event of the year. This isn't about me, this is much bigger to me. And I just wanna say thankyou to everyone that showed up tonight to a guy that I've been looking up to since I was, since I was. Kid that you all just saw on the cover of that magazine, I met him that year by the way. That's right. I met him that year. From that point on I've been listening to him ever since then because it's never about the individual. It's always about the people behind him. It's always about the people that's behind the camera. It's always about the people that doesn't get the credit. It's always about the people that always sacrifice what they think or what they believe they could be doing more with their lives for the better of the individual. So for myself, Peyton, Mike, Ray, Big Papi, Francisco, Jay In every other halfway that I seen here tonight we just wanna say thank you to the supports and care. Thank you. [ SOUND ] Get out of that. 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