Whiny rich, woke, pampered guy LeBron James is taking a thorough shelling from two media notables for his childish complaining. Stephen A. Smith and Shaquille O’Neal let the Lakers’ superstar motormouth have it for his repulsive attitude. And by the way, NBA TV ratings are way up since James and his team were eliminated from the playoffs, too.
Several days ago, James tweeted about how the NBA should have listened to him and put more space between the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He contended it might have prevented the injuries that he and several marquee players suffered injuries this season:
“They all didn’t wanna listen to me about the start of the season. I knew exactly what would happen. I only wanted to protect the well being of the players which ultimately is the PRODUCT & BENEFIT of OUR GAME! … These injuries isn’t just “PART OF THE GAME”. … It’s insane … .”
O’Neal and Smith would have none of this. Shaq, a member of the TNT NBA broadcast crew, said:
“When you’re living in a world where 40 million people have been laid off and I’m making $200 million, you won’t get no complaining from me. I’d play back to back to back to back to back.
“I’m not knocking what anybody said, but me personally, I don’t complain and make excuses, because real people are working their tail off and all we gotta do is train two hours a day and then play a game for two hours at night and make a lot of money. … So my thought process is a little different.”
Speaking on ESPN’s First Take, Smith said NBA players complain “too damn much”: “We can’t even analyze basketball anymore without dudes being caught up in their feelings. And who’s the ringleader with that stuff? It’s LeBron. Because LeBron, he can drop 50, he can drop 60, and we all know we love and respect this phenomenal role model that is LeBron James.”
Smith continued, saying we should call a spade a spade. Just let James have a bad game and you point it out and he’ll say ‘‘You know I’m just trying to be a role model to the kids out there, I’m a champion in life. I came from Akron.’’
“What the hell does that have to do with the fact you struggled in this game,” said the exasperated Smith about the narcissist James.
It’s pretty bad for the crybaby James when he’s losing the woke media who normally lavish him with praise.
Meanwhile, a whole lot of people like the idea of James not being visible during the NBA playoffs. Since the Phoenix Suns eliminated L.A. in the first round, television ratings have trended upward. Compared to last year’s conference finals, TV ratings have increased 39 percent. The most-watched games of the postseason were those without James playing in them.
James is considered by many to be the face of the NBA. He’s also been blamed for destroying the league’s popularity. This wokeball league may want to think about downplaying “LeWhiner’s” prominence, considering all the damaging negativity he delivers.
