LeBron James makes big sacrifice in 23rd season

According to Wine Enthusiast, the NBA's wine boom started with legendary San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, whose wine collection was nearly as legendary as his NBA career. His team dinners turned many Spurs players into oenophiles.

James became a wine fan thanks to his friend Carmelo Anthony, who also got Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade into the wine world. For the last decade, James hasn't been shy about his love of fine wine, even hitting up other athletes on social media about their own bottles.

LeBron James is playing better after going back to wine and cookies

James may have needed to cut out treats to remain focused on rehabilitating his back injury and getting into playing shape. He told Nash he didn't have a drink until New Year's Day, which is also when James started to truly ramp up his play.

On Jan. 2, James scored 31 points while shooting 12-for-18. That started a month where James averaged 23.5 points, 6.7 assists and 6.7 rebounds while shooting over 50 percent from the field. In six February games, James is averaging 22.3 points and 9.2 assists while still making half his shots.

Alcohol may have detrimental effects on the human body, but James hasn't shown it. He's in the midst of the most age-defying career in NBA history, and if that requires wine and cookies, so be it. Sometimes, it's a lot of wine.

After all, James really cares about his cookies. Former teammate Wade speculated that the first sign of James' eventual departure from the Miami Heat was when Pat Riley took James' preferred cookies off the team plane.

Fortunately, with fellow wine lover Redick at the helm in Los Angeles, there's no way the Lakers will be denying James his favorite vices. Taking a hiatus from drinking is fine, but if there's anyone who shouldn't be changing his routine, it's the NBA's all-time leading scorer.