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LeBron James just gave Ladd McConkey a huge endorsement

Originally posted on Los Angeles Chargers on SI
By Andrew Parsaud | Last updated Sep 2, 2025 5:30 AM ET

The Los Angeles Chargers share one of the largest media markets in the world. With the regular season just days away, the Chargers are headed to Brazil to take on the rival Kansas City Chiefs to kick off the year.

While there's tons of high expectations for the Chargers this year, not only has football media taken notice of them, but stars of other sports have begun to hop on the wagon. The Chargers have one of the best young quarterbacks in the league in Justin Herbert, but now may have another star receiver on their hands.

Last year's second-round pick Ladd McConkey blossomed into a major playmaker for the Bolts last season, going for 1,149 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie. With a revamped set of weapons around him, the Chargers' star receiver is set for an encore.

It just so happens that Lakers superstar LeBron James has taken notice of McConkey. When listing six players to watch this NFL season as part of a DraftKings ad, James named McConkey as part of his list.

bron knows ball pic.twitter.com/TV1gviTPzu
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) August 28, 2025

"Ladd McConkey, I think he's going to have a monster year," is what James said regarding the Chargers' star.

It's not crazy to think McConkey can have an even better year than last. With the attention not being solely placed on him, defenses will have no choice but to leave McConkey one-on-one more times than they'd like to. With the recent re-signing of veteran Keenan Allen and the emergence of rookies Tre Harris and KeAndre Lambert-Smith, the Chargers have plenty of weapons to target.

McConkey will still be Herbert's go-to. It'll be interesting to see how he responds in year two.

This article first appeared on Los Angeles Chargers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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