It turns out that LeBron James’ injured right hand may not have been much of a secret after all.
In an episode of “First Take” on Monday, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith addressed the injury that James played through for the last three games of the Finals.
“This was not breaking news. A lot of us [reporters] had heard what happened after Game 1,” Smith said. “So we knew that his hand was hurt, and I’m telling you the [Golden State] Warriors knew that his hand was hurt.”
After James’ Cleveland Cavaliers were swept by the Warriors in Game 4 of the series last week, he showed up to his postgame press conference with a cast on his hand and revealed that he had injured it punching a whiteboard in frustration after their loss in Game 1. The four-time MVP also said that he kept quiet about the injury to prevent the Warriors from knowing.
Now it sounds like the Warriors probably knew about it all along, and that’s hardly surprising given what James’ hand looked like by the end of the series.
H/T NBA Reddit
