LeBron James may have seemed like he had no idea Gregg Popovich’s wife had passed away before TNT’s Allie LaForce broke the news to him on Wednesday, but the Cavaliers star said it only appeared that way because he was overcome with emotion while discussing Erin Popovich’s death.
After he scored 46 points in Cleveland’s 100-97 win over the Pacers, LeBron was asked for his thoughts on Popovich’s loss. He seemed stunned at first before giving a thoughtful response, and many felt the timing from LaForce and TNT was unfair. In a video on his UNINTERRUPTED platform, LeBron vehemently defended LaForce and told people to “get off her back” because she “followed the proper protocol.”
.@KingJames sends his thoughts and prayers to the family of Gregg Popovich, sets record straight on reporter’s question. pic.twitter.com/VCsFuEtFVU
— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) April 19, 2018
“A lot of people felt like I was blindsided. That is absolutely false,” he said. “Allie LaForce told me that she was gonna ask the question and asked if it was OK. Once I started talking about it and once we were on the air, my emotions just kind of took over. That was just my emotions coming straight from my heart about the late Erin Popovich.”
James could have said nothing, so it was admirable of him to set the record straight. He has always spoken highly of Popovich and is close with him, so giving LeBron the news on live TV that Popovich’s wife had died would not have been right. Fortunately, it looks like LaForce handled the situation as well as she could have.
