The Lakers are coming out of consecutive losses against the Thunder and the Spurs before hosting the Mavericks tonight. During the loss against the Thunder, an interaction between LeBron James and Alex Caruso went viral on social media, claiming Caruso trash-talked LeBron James about the 2020 COVID Bubble championship for the Lakers.
Days later, social media’s famous lip reader account, ‘LegendZ Productions,’ published unseen footage which revealed what really happened in the exchange and how it had nothing to do with the 2020 championship. For context, there were multiple controversial decisions that the Lakers reportedly had problems with.
What Alex Caruso Really Said To LeBron James👀:
LeBron: “You’re talking to me?”
Caruso: “Go sit down, get some rest”
LeBron was arguing about missed calls, and Lu Dort said: “What are you saying?”
There was nothing mentioned about the “bubble ring”. The two embraced after. pic.twitter.com/Tm2C2IGAQL
— LegendZ (@legendz_prod) February 13, 2026
“Stop holding me, bro,” James was seen saying to Dort on multiple occasions. “He tripped me,” Reaves said to the official about Dort as well. Therefore, as a culmination of this frustration, James approached the officials during a timeout when Caruso also began trash-talking his former teammate, and the 41-year-old superstar began jabbing back at an old friend.
“You’re talking to me?” James said as he approached Caruso after talking to the official. “Stop it, bro… Go sit down, get some rest,” Caruso reportedly responded.
While Jaxson Hayes found Caruso’s comments funny, James did not stop approaching him, while Caruso simply clarified that he wasn’t the one who didn’t call the supposed foul.
“That’s bullsh** bro,” James said as he walked away from Caruso. Both players were smiling, but James was not overtly happy since the Lakers were losing.
They eventually lost the game 110-119, and Caruso contributed with 17 points, two assists, and one rebound while shooting 7-8 from the field (87.5 FG%) and 3-4 from beyond the arc (75.0 3P%).
Meanwhile, LeBron James finished the game with 22 points, 10 assists, and six rebounds while going 9-17 from the floor (52.9 FG%) and missing all of his shots from beyond the arc.
Following the game, Caruso addressed the dust-up with James during the postgame interview. He also took the exchange lightly with his former teammate.
“We were about to fight. You can see right here,” joked Caruso. “They were saying something to the refs, and then we were walking off. I was just clearing the air, and obviously, you can tell I’m smiling; he’s smiling. But everyone’s on edge. I think that’s probably what it was.”
So to be clear, there was no mention of the bubble ring or anything of that nature as had gone viral on social media. Alex Caruso appeared to simply be trying to get into LeBron James’ head at the time, and there wasn’t any hostility. Thus correcting the false narrative that some believed was true on social media.
