LeBron James was exceptional in the Lakers' 107-99 victory over the Hawks on Monday night, tallying 21 points, nine assists and seven rebounds and leading a fourth quarter comeback, with 12 of those 21 points in the final period of play.
But this isn't news. For some players it would be. But LeBron has done this his whole career and is continuing to do so at an elite rate, even in his age-36 season. Something else happened on Monday night, though, that thrust James into the news cycle (in a good light) and thrust someone else out there (in a not-so-good light). It takes a lot to get in LeBron's head at this point in his career, I'd imagine, but one lovable fan was able to accomplish just that.
As you might expect, she was removed from the stadium after her maskless, screaming tirade toward LeBron. And as you might expect, she took her punishment in stride, apologizing to staff workers and LeBron afterwards and admitting that her outburst was wrong.
Or not. Warning: this video is NSFW.
After the game, reporters asked LeBron about the interaction and he provided a level-headed response, actually indicating he wouldn't have wanted them to have been kicked out.
"At the end of the day, I'm happy fans are back in the building. I missed that interaction, I need that interaction," James said. "I don't feel like they [were] warranted to be kicked out. There was a back-and-forth between two grown men. We said our piece, he said his piece, I said my piece. And then someone else jumped into it and said their piece. But I didn't think they should've been kicked out.
"They might've had a couple drinks, maybe, and they could've probably kept it going and the game wouldn't have been about the game [anymore], so I think the referees did what they had to do."
What was the initial trash talk like?
"My guy, tonight, he... I don't want to say he went overboard, but he went a little bit out of bounds, you know, too close to comfort for me. And I said my piece and we could've moved on," James explained. "But I think it was so close to the officials... and it kind of got blown out of proportion.
"They might've had some alcoholic beverages on the side, so it made them feel a little tougher than they really are, I would say."
He added that he didn't think the fact that she didn't have a mask on put him or any of the players in danger because they were far away, but acknowledged that it could have been unsafe for people around her and the officials. He also said that he loves the fans, be it Laker Nation or any opposing fan base. What he didn't do at the postgame interview was call her a "Karen" or anything, as 2020 and 2021 popular slang might have labeled her.
He waited to review the tape, and then he did that.
As expected, the social media fallout from this whole interaction was great. Some of the highlights included Richard Jefferson "siding" with the heckler...
...a full-blown Jomboy investigation, nearing (but not actually) the importance of his Astros cheating investigation and showing what LeBron actually said to the fans, which is honestly more than I would have expected...
... and was unfortunately too much to handle even for Rob Perez, whose Wobvestigations have taken NBA Twitter by storm in the past.
And that's that. Even in a mostly fan-less 2021 landscape, some especially audacious fans can still steal the spotlight.
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