Things got a bit chippy during the Lakers’ 107-99 win over the Hawks on Monday.
In the closing minutes of the game, a courtside fan started heckling James, which led to a confrontation and, later, the fan (a blonde woman) being kicked out completely.
The referees stopped the game after LeBron was heckled by a spectator in Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/apoDqvt4ll
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) February 2, 2021
https://twitter.com/NotScTop10plays/status/1356439231732867080
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the first time James had an altercation with a spectator recently. Earlier in this road trip, LeBron took issue with the way a Cleveland executive cheered after he missed a shot. Another fan was also caught holding some pretty brutal and defamatory shirts calling Bron a “racist” and “narcissist.”
This time, though, we were able to get the other side of the story. According to what the woman said on social media, she was just retaliating to James “talking sh-t” about her husband.
https://twitter.com/NotScTop10plays/status/1356438590713180161
If her detailing of events is true, it makes her and her husband look more like victims than anything else. Besides, even if they started the trash talk, Bron should know better than to let them get under his skin and escalate a situation.
But we have no way of knowing what the woman or husband said, and it doesn’t sound like LeBron to overreact to some basic trash talk.
Also, for what it’s worth, LeBron did say, after the game, that the two fans should not have been kicked out of the game.
LeBron on fans that were kicked out: "At the end of the day, I'm happy fans were in the building. I don't think it was warranted to be kicked out. … I don't think they should've been kicked out."
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) February 2, 2021
No matter which way you look at it, this is a situation that has generated some pretty major buzz from the NBA community. As the face of basketball, and the best player in the game, LeBron doesn’t often find himself in scandals like this.
