LeBron James has had countless feats of jaw-dropping athleticism over the past 2+ decades in the NBA. One such outing was when he leaped over John Lucas III en route to an alley-oop dunk. A dozen years later, JL3 addressed the same on the ‘Club 520’ podcast, even stated he kept Derrick Rose from playing to get his revenge.
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“Yo G, you gotta sit out this game,” said John to Derrick Rose over the phone. Rose missed 12 games due to a groin injury in March 2012 and was ramping up for a return. However, with Lucas III fuming over getting dunked on by LBJ, he made sure that Rose was unavailable so he could snatch up his minutes in his ‘revenge game’.
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“I got to get my lick back. You don’t realize what it’s been like for these two weeks for me,” said the Chicago Bull. This type of reaction from JL3 was understandable. Not only was he on the receiving end of an ‘all-decade’ type poster, but he also went a measly 0-1 from the field during that January 29th, 2012 game.
So, when time came for the aforementioned ‘lick back’, he did not disappoint. As expected, Rose didn’t play in their next matchup which was on March 14th, 2012. Despite coming off the bench, Lucas III went off, scoring 24 points on 9-12 shooting from the field.
Not only did he lead the Bulls in scoring that night but he went toe-to-toe with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. The two scored 35 and 36, respectively and still lost to the John Lucas III led squad.
This most certainly was redemption for John. It’s evident from the way he speaks about the highlight that he wasn’t appreciative of the response it got from media and fans alike. “That goofy a** play they still run it to this day,” said the Bulls guard after claiming he didn’t talk to Mario Chalmers for two days following the dunk.
James is in his own echelon when it comes to mind-boggling dunks that seemingly defy gravity. He’s put a plethora of NBA players on posters and been unapologetic about the same. While this was a career-defining moment of sorts for JL3 which is quite unfortunate, James perhaps didn’t pay all too much mind to it.
Lucas III can however, take solace in the fact that he did eventually get his lick back on March 14th, 2012.
