LeBron James was going off in the first half of the Lakers’ game against the Sacramento Kings on Saturday with 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in the first 24 minutes. He was feeling so good that some Kings fans began giving him a hard time on the court, but with 21 years of NBA experience, LeBron knew exactly how to handle it.
“Relax,” said James to a heckler. “Drink your beer and shut the f**k up.”
LeBron overheard telling a fan to drink his beer and shut the f*ck up pic.twitter.com/WdriteuEUD
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) December 22, 2024
As winners of two straight games heading into tonight, the Lakers were desperate to continue their streak and make up some lost ground in the West standings. James, who is in his 22nd season, was having a fantastic scoring night and was leading the charge in a solid first half for the Lakers.
Sometimes, fans like to get themselves involved during games and they can make it a mission to say something that gets a reaction out of players or otherwise distracts them from the game. In this case, we don’t know what the fan said but it was enough to get shut down by the King.
James, 39, has heard it all before. Dating back to his days at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, LeBron has been simultaneously the most beloved and most hated player in the game for at least two decades now and fans have hurled just about every insult in the book in his direction.
When he left the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010, the hate and vitriol he received was on a historic level and he heard things that no athlete should have to endure. But even in the years after that, James has always been a popular target for hecklers.
In one famous incident in 2022, LeBron tossed a pair of courtside fans from the game after they crossed the line and insulted his family. Besides that altercation and a few standout incidents, LeBron has mostly ignored the hecklers and it’s a trick he’s passed on to his son Bronny, who is also dealing with constant media attention.
At this stage of his career, LeBron James doesn’t have the patience to deal with nonsense from the fans and he has no problem calling them out mid-game if they’re being overly obnoxious. Since the King didn’t have the fan thrown out of the game, we can only assume that he calmed down at some point, but not before his clash with James went viral online.
Angry LeBron is a very rare sight in the NBA and it takes a special kind of moment to bring that side out of him. But once LeBron starts calling people out, they have a tendency to get in line and that’s seemingly what happened tonight.
More importantly, LeBron was able to keep his focus on the game and help the Lakers secure a crucial win against one of the deepest teams in the West. On all fronts, LeBron James is done messing around and he’s ready to get this season back on track with averages of 22.6 points, 9.0 assists, and 7.9 rebounds per game on 48.6% shooting.
After completing their set in Sacramento, the Lakers face the Pistons on Monday (December 23rd) at 10:30 PM EST at Little Caesars Arena. For Christmas Day, the Lakers travel to Chase Center for a showdown against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors at 8:00 PM EST.
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