LeBron James is pushing back on a story Mike Breen shared about Joel Embiid being late to practice, turning what sounded like praise for LeBron’s leadership into a bizarre controversy. Evan Roberts believes Breen’s account and argues that LeBron may be denying the story for a noble reason: protecting Embiid from criticism. Tiki Barber sees another possibility, that Breen was simply given bad information by his source.
The debate becomes whether LeBron’s denial actually proves his leadership in a different way, with Evan arguing that he’s willing to absorb the controversy rather than let it fall on Embiid. Plus, the Yankees face elimination after two brutal offensive performances, Alex Cora passes on the Phillies job, and Rangers-Islanders trash talk heats up.
