After Oddly Subbing Himself, LeBron James Once Apologized to Cavaliers’ Teammates for Letting Frustration Get the Best of Him

LeBron James experienced a peculiar incident during his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 2015, while playing against the Atlanta Hawks, LeBron substituted himself on his own call. Casually walking back to the sidelines, he earned a bizarre technical foul. As a result, only four players were left on the court for the Cavs. Despite Richard Jefferson replacing him, LeBron took responsibility and apologized for the incident. Subsequently, Cavs coach David Blatt shed more light on the situation and provided an explanation for LeBron’s actions after the game.

As Rule No.3, Section I, Part A of the NBA rulebook states, “Each team shall consist of five players. No team shall be reduced to less than five players. If a player in the game receives his sixth personal foul and all substitutes have already been disqualified, the player shall remain in the game and be charged with a personal and team foul. A technical foul also shall be assessed against his team. All subsequent personal fouls, including offensive fouls, shall be treated similarly. All players with six or more personal fouls and remain in the game shall be treated similarly.” This led to King James earning a technical foul for himself and the Cavs.

LeBron James earned a technical foul for the Cleveland Cavaliers by subbing himself

As mentioned above, King James seemed displeased with the game against the Hawks, despite the Cavs leading the game. Cleveland went on to win 109-97, but LeBron still seemed unhappy. ESPN reported him apologizing to the team and fans, saying:

“I blew a gasket. You know what that means?” James said after the game. “I apologized to my teammates for it.”

Explaining this incident, coach David Blatt said how LeBron was unhappy with the team not playing the game right. He considered the game like hockey and himself as a hockey sub. Throwing further light, Blatt said:

“You know, ‘Bron is a lot of things — a lot of great things — but probably where you’re not going to see him is out there playing for the [Lake Erie] Monsters [an AHL team based in Cleveland] or the [New York] Rangers. You know what I mean? But he was frustrated. I understand his frustration, but obviously, you shouldn’t do that.”

Once again, replying to ESPN on coach David Blatt’s explanation, LeBron added:

“Did he tell you my comeback? There aren’t hockey subs in basketball, but I do make hockey assists.”

King James was trolled by Shaq and the NBA TNT team in Shaqtin’ A Fool

NBA fans turned LeBron James’ technical foul into a subject of ridicule. During an episode of Shaqtin’ A Fool Legendary Edition: LeBron James, Shaq and his NBA TNT team, including Charles Barkley and Dennis Scott, took the opportunity to mock LeBron James for this comical incident. Shaq and the panel members made humorous remarks about it.

“When you’re a king, I guess you could just go to the bench illegally, and sit down, you don’t have to do it. Game’s still going on, ‘I’m stuffing myself with Richard Jefferson going in.'” 

Indeed, this incident would forever be one of the funniest LeBron James moments to date.