DENVER - That blue, pristine, made-for-a-movie-star-or-chief-executive suit LeBron James wore to the arena on Christmas Day for the Cavaliers' game at Golden State?
Yeah, he had no idea who made it.
"My wife bought it," James cracked. "She said it would look good."
James knows how it looks when he dresses to come to the arena for games that way, too.
He looks like one of the most popular, powerful, richest, professional athletes in the world. He looks like someone who demands greatness from teammates and GMs, who inspires youths, who makes political, societal statements because of the influence he knows holds.
James turns 31 today, and he is all of those things. He shares a birthday with Tiger Woods, who knows a little bit about what it's like to be James. Few others do.
"I'm just aware of what's going on," James said to cleveland.com, reflecting on his place in life as he turned another year older. "I'm more aware of the position I'm in and I don't take it for granted."
James led the Cavs to a 93-87 victory in Denver Tuesday night, the final night of his life as a 30-year-old. Family and friends - including his mother, Gloria, and long-time business partner Maverick Carter, were among those spotted at the game, but there were others - joined James for dinner in the Mile High City after the win.
James scored a game-high 34 points and contributed six rebounds. He'd been mired in a shooting slump - heck, he entered play as the worst shooter in the league outside the paint this season, the kind of slump that can make one mindful of his basketball mortality.
Of course, James is nowhere near finished with his illustrious, sure-fire hall-of-fame career. So he fought the Denver elevation and knocked down 7-of-12 jumpers and 13-of-24 shots, overall.
But in conversations this week about his upcoming birthday, the theme James stressed time and again was awareness. He's cognizant of the fortune he's built, the basketball gifts he's cultivated, the responsibility he feels he owns because of it.
That's why, he said, he chose to dramatically upgrade his game-day attire this season, choosing the several-thousand-dollar suit most nights (but not always) instead of a T-shirt, or jeans, or sweats. It's a part of maturing as he ages.
"It has everything to do with being a professional," James said. "For me, being a professional, you dress a certain way. Especially with me and my age and also what I represent, and my influence, I like putting on (nice) clothes and that's what it's about. If I worked at a Fortune 500 company or I worked at a 9-to-5, there's a certain way that you've got to dress. I believe in that."
Earlier in the week, James was asked during a group session with the media if he rued getting older. If not now, then last year when he hit the big 3-0. He said, "I mean, I loved being an 18-year old, 19, 20, 21-year old, but the stuff that I enjoy today doesn't even compare.
"The stuff that I was doing back when I was 18, 19, 20 doesn't even compare to the life that I have now and what I like, what I enjoy, I don't want those days back," he said. "I'm happy where I'm at. I feel good."
In between his 30th and 31st birthdays, James inspired and carried a wounded and undermanned Cavs team to the Finals, winning two games. He held a supporting role in his first motion picture. He announced a program to send potentially thousands of inner-city Akron children to college one day. He dumped McDonald's for Blaze Pizza. He inked a lifetime deal with Nike.
That's a pretty good year. When a reporter mentioned to him that the real trouble hits when he turns 35, he fired back "at 35, I'll be about out of the league by then, y'all can bother somebody else."
He was joking, but he was also acknowledging that, yes, he's aware there's an end, however small of a blip on his radar that end might be.
If he's really talking about walking away in four years (he isn't), then it's not so small.
"Uh, no, I won't be done by 35," he said. "I hope I'm still around at 35."