LeBron James is one of the few players on earth who can play virtually any position. His size, skillset, and amazing durability make him a prime candidate to play in all sorts of different lineups.
Recently, the Lakers have really put that to the test, starting LeBron James at center for their recent string of games.
While it has worked out so far, fans couldn’t help but notice James’ hilarious lack of effort during the opening tip-off on Tuesday.
LeBron made a business decision on the tip-off 😅 pic.twitter.com/ZLeIfQmESm
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 5, 2022
Whether it was an intentional move or an accidental blunder, he seemed to have given up before the ball even went up into the air.
Naturally, fans shared a good laugh about it on Twitter.
bro said I’m too old for this shit
— lakers fan (@lovinglakerszn) January 5, 2022
https://twitter.com/ThumbinThru/status/1478582278079107072https://twitter.com/_Talkin_NBA/status/1478582383939100673
Bro this is fucking hilarious ahaha 🤣🤣
— KovidBryant (@KoronaVyress) January 5, 2022
Makes total sense that he didn’t jump… still hilarious
— UR Content (@UR_Content_) January 5, 2022
https://twitter.com/j_cuffy/status/1478610497633234947https://twitter.com/2xA_monster/status/1478587317686206468
In the end, the Lakers did come out with a win, so it obviously wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things. Still, it’s rather taboo for a player to just give up on the tip like that and it took a lot of people by surprise.
Aas some have suggested, it could have been a strategic decision by LeBron, who perhaps believed it would have been better to get the ball in the second and third quarters.
James is known to be a brilliant strategist, after all.
“He was very smart, he did play chess mentally,” said Gilbert Arenas, taling about his playoff experience against LeBron. “So when we used to play cards at his house, he’d sit on the couch and his tv setup was like a bar where you just sit and watches games, watching film.”
“So I seen what his mind was doing from day one. So, you know, going into that series, we got outsmarted by someone we didn’t really think about. We didn’t know how intelligent, how he moved pieces around. When he wanted to attack, he had certain people go get subbed out which subbed out some of our pieces which made the games smaller. He pulled his center, so we pulled our center. Now our backup is smaller than LeBron so now when LeBron goes to the basket, no one’s there to protect the rim. We didn’t actually understand what was going on until after.”
Whatever the case, James is thriving this season, with his highest numbers since joining the Lakers in 2018.
While the team has gotten off to a slow start, The King seems to be propelling them back to a place of relevancy in the West.
It’s no wonder why his GOAT case grows more convincing by the day.
