There is apparently one specific criticism that gets under LeBron James’ skin a bit.
The Los Angeles Lakers star James addressed his haters in an Instagram post this weekend. James posted a screenshot of his numbers in a win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night. James dropped a 35-5-9 line, marking the 108th 30-point game of his Lakers career.
“But I just came here to make movies though!” James captioned the post. “Ain’t that what y’all said right!?!”
LeBron James’ Instagram caption showing a screenshot of his 35 point game at 38 years old:
“But I just came here to make movies though! Ain’t that what y’all said right!?! 👂” pic.twitter.com/oeA03VICbl
— Courtside Buzz (@CourtsideBuzzX) November 19, 2023
The four-time NBA champion is referencing the criticism that many voiced when he first joined the Lakers in 2018 — that James supposedly came to L.A., the entertainment capital of the world, more so to pursue off-court ventures like making films rather than to continue playing winning ball.
The timing of James’ post is little strange though. He has indeed been more than happy to dabble into Hollywood projects, such as the infamous “Space Jam 2” and his other movies currently in production. A victory against the lowly Blazers in November of his sixth season in L.A. doesn’t change that. The fact still remains that the Lakers are a mediocre 214-188 (.532) since James arrived. They did win a championship in 2020, but that was an outlier season that the Lakers have not come close to replicating since.
But the one criticism that you can’t make of James is that his individual play has declined — even at 38 going on 39, James is still doing 25.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 6.3 assists a game this year. Granted, that has only translated to a 7-6 record for the Lakers, so James will need to bring about more team success in order to put the movie criticism fully to bed.
