People who have followed the career and life of LeBron James for years know that other than basketball, he’s a man of many interests. He has a diverse selection of businesses outside of basketball as well as his extensive philanthropic work, such as the LeBron James Family Foundation and the I Promise school in Akron, Ohio.
But LeBron has another subject that gets his brain’s juices flowing and it’s one that is key to a life he knows well: a life on the road. During an interview with GQ‘s Sam Schube, LeBron revealed that he almost always travels with some sort of scented candle to put in his hotel rooms.
“Candles!” LeBron James says joyfully, because LeBron James is a candle-packing traveler. “I have to light a candle in my room on every road trip while I’m in my room. It has a lot to do with the energy of the universe. I’m very high on that—I actually get that from my wife,” he explains. “But I also just love the smell of candles. You know, hotel rooms can have a stagnant smell. I think a candle gives it a fresher smell. I can bring some home with me, it makes me very comfortable. So the energy, the essence, behind a candle, and also the smell quality of just keeping me as comfortable away as I am when I’m home,” all of that means that LeBron’s second bag—the one not carrying his shoes—is going to have a candle in it.
So, shout out to Savannah James for helping cultivate LeBron’s new candle obsession. For someone traveling as frequently as James does, for at least half of the NBA season as well as offseason trips for Nike, having a piece of home with you is likely difficult. But candles appear to give that to James, perhaps even more than a glass of fine Italian wine.
