The internet never forgets, and it is all the more unforgiving in this age of social media. Make one slip-up, say one nonsensical or false thing, and you can be meme’d for all eternity. Past NBA greats like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Bill Russell did not have to deal with this pressure. LeBron James isn’t so lucky.
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The King came of age at a time when every word and action was put under a microscope. And of course, LeBron isn’t perfect, but he deserves a ton of credit for successfully navigating what can be a toxic online landscape.
James was ‘the Chosen One’ all the way back in high school. But despite unrelenting attention and so many people praying for his downfall, he has come out the other side as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. The secret to LeBron’s success is that he’s often been able to laugh it off when people attempt to make fun of him, even when it is about his infamous reputation as a stone-cold liar.
LeBron was on the latest episode of the 360 With Speedy podcast, where he was confronted about it. There are entire video compilations of LeBron lying for no good reason out there. And they have spawned countless memes.
The conversation began with the mention of the instance when a young LeBron claimed that he knew Kobe Bryant was going to score 70 points right before he actually went for 81.
“My probably all-time favorite ‘LeBron be lying’ moment is when you was like, ‘Yo, Kobe’s out there, I knew he was gonna score 70 that night,'” Speedy said.
LeBron let out a huge laugh and said, “Bro, I’m telling you! I’m telling you, I’m telling you, every time I say something, everyone thinks it’s a f***** lie. I got homies that was literally at the house with me when Kobe was dropping 81. When he got 60, we [were] watching the game, I’m like, ‘Oh s***, yo he might go for 80 tonight.'”
“I got homies that was literally in my room … We sat in this small room watching the game, and I was like, ‘Oh s***, Kobe [is] going for 80 tonight.’ He went for 81, so I did lie, yeah, I was wrong,” James concluded.
LeBron may have fooled Speedy, but his story doesn’t hold up to real scrutiny. To start with, he changed his original prediction that Kobe was going to score 70 before the game had started, to now stating that he knew the Lakers legend would get to 80 once he had reached 60 in the game.
It doesn’t take Nostradamus to have figured that a red-hot Kobe, who hit 60 points early in the fourth quarter of that game, could continue at that pace and put up an even bigger number.
The final thing LeBron said is his real confession. He jokingly claimed he lied because Kobe got 81 and not exactly 80, which was his prediction. “I did lie” will keep the polygraph from bugging out, of course. But if we are being honest, he seems to have lied again.
That said, even though his stories don’t always pass the test, we can’t stay mad at LeBron. Being on camera all the time can make you do funny things. So we’ll forgive him for occasionally stretching the truth. Besides, why let the truth ruin a perfectly good story?
