How disrespectful to the game of basketball.
I think we would all agree that the NBA preseason isn’t that serious, this is why none of us watch it, and this is exactly how veterans treat it — to them, it’s just a tune up before the regular season starts. Completely understandable.
This rule definitely applies to LeBron James. After all, he’s a 21-year NBA veteran and four-time champion, and at the age of 38, managed to put up a stat line of 28.9 points-per-game, 8.3 rebounds and 6.8 rebounds last season while leading the Los Angeles Lakers to a Western Conference Finals appearance.
So the “King” deserves his rest, no foul there, but what he did in a recent game was utterly a slap in the face to basketball. And it’s not just me who’s saying this, so is an NBA legend, and a Lakers one at that.
After scoring 12 points in the first half of a preseason contest Friday against the Golden State Warriors, LeBron put on a change of clothes — street clothes, to be exact — and watched the rest of the game while sitting on the bench. It’s nothing out of the ordinary for a lot of NBA stars during the preseason, but not a lot of them have a full-out meal like LeBron did. Yes, a literal full-out meal, dude was straight up chowing down. (RELATED: First College Basketball Top 25 Poll Of The Season Released. Blue Bloods Kansas, Duke Dominate At No. 1, No. 2)
Well, former NBA’er Michael Cooper, who won five championships with Los Angeles, didn’t appreciate it.
“I didn’t like that. Again, he’s LeBron James, but still, you’ve got to have respect for the game, man,” Cooper said during an episode of his “Showtime with Coop” podcast. “He’s over there — I don’t mind the guy eating, but go eat in the locker room, and then when you come out, you come out and be part of the team, not just sit on the end of the bench eating.”
https://youtu.be/9iqhxlU9IQM?feature=shared
Here’s a few clips of LeBron eating on the bench like the disrespectful chump he is:
LeBron really came out in the second half wearing street clothes and eating dinner 💀
(via @itszenakeita) pic.twitter.com/6g7guS1043
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 14, 2023
WWE Basketball 🤡🤡.. After playing in the first half, LeBron is now in street clothes eating on the bench in the 2nd half… I’ve have never ever seen anything like this before… Fanboyyyys still think sports is real pic.twitter.com/bixzLHB3l8
— ALL SPORTS ARE RIGGED 2023 (@FormerNFLFan789) October 14, 2023
Look at LeBron 17 mins … He took a 🚿 and changed and he eating dinner in the bench. #NBA pic.twitter.com/8qHacI3S9e
— Mr WTF (@boxing_ghost) October 14, 2023
That big ass ego just keeps on rollin’ along, doesn’t it?