After returning from his one-game suspension following a heated altercation with Detroit Pistons’ center Isaiah Stewart, LeBron James showed he was fed up en route to dominating the Indiana Pacers as a visitor.
LeBron played great during that game, even making a clutch 3-pointer over Myles Turner to seal the deal for the purple and gold. After that 3, The King made the ‘big balls’ celebration, which earned him a $15,000 fine from the league. Even though LeBron felt it was unfair to get fined, the league didn’t change its mind.
In fact, they weren’t the only ones condemning that little dance from LeBron. A Lakers legend recently called out the 4x NBA champion, stating that the win should be enough for him and the antics are unnecessary.
In the first episode of his Substack, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar criticized LeBron’s attitude after that big 3 (1:35).
“For me, winning is enough. Why do you need to do a stupid childish dance and disrespect the other team on the court? It doesn’t make sense. GOATs don’t dance,” Abdul-Jabbar said.
Kareem didn’t appreciate those antics from LeBron and let him know. NBA players have the utmost respect for the 6x NBA champion, so Bron will probably learn from this and save those celebrations for the locker room.
The last couple of weeks weren’t easy for LeBron. He was ejected for the second time in his career and got the first suspension of his 19-year tenure. After that, he was fined, and more recently, a false positive put him in the league’s health and safety protocols. He couldn’t catch a break and the Lakers struggled without him on the court.
Now he’s back with the team, although they remain inconsistent. It’s time to bounce back, focus on winning games and less on celebrations. Following the 119-115 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Friday night, the Lakers rank 7th in the West with a 12-12 record.
