Kevin Garnett’s ‘TF’ Response To LeBron James’ Fake, Exaggerated Reaction To Phantom Foul From Jayson Tatum

Kevin Garnett spent his most memorable years in Boston, so it’s natural that he and LeBron James struck up a bit of a rivalry. After all, Garnett’s Celtics boldly proclaimed that they were the reason James went to Miami in 2010. Though he’s come to appreciate James and all he’s doing for the game of basketball, Garnett’s latest Instagram Story shows that, at times, the old rivalry still gets reignited.

Garnett took to his stories to react to a play from the Lakers’ matchup against the Celtics earlier this year, when James went down with an injury, Before that however, the year-22 veteran seemed to take a ‘hit’ from Jayson Tatum, causing him to take a knee, and protest an offensive foul.

Replays showed minimal contact between the two forwards, and Garnett’s caption of “TF” made it clear that he thinks the King went down too easy.

Kevin Garnett reacts to LeBron being "fouled" by Tatum pic.twitter.com/OnqF2ZS5xk

— tragicpatek (@tragicpatek) April 7, 2025

Of course, the Laker forward didn’t have that memorable a game, despite him scoring 22 points and grabbing 14 rebounds before being forced off with a groin injury. His departure from the game allowed the Celtics to fend off their bitter rivals’ comeback, and the defending champs walked away with a 10-point win.

The injury to James started a poor run of form for the Purple and Gold, and they lost a lot of the momentum they had gained since the arrival of Luka Doncic. However, that was secondary to the main topic of conversation after the game, as the media and fans online diverted all their attention to calling James a flopper.

James, who’s dealt with these accusations for almost 22 years, finally addressed them in his bombshell interview on Pat McAfee’s show.

LeBron James rubbished ‘flopper’ allegations

The King’s surprisingly candid, no-holds-barred appearance on the former punter’s program. A lot of things were discussed, but McAfee’s decision to broach James’ ‘flop’ allegations was received well by fans. James, however, came to his own defense and explained that he didn’t understand where he got that tag from.

He chose to use real NBA stats to back up his case and claimed that despite the general public’s opinion of him flopping and receiving a lot of whistles from the referees, he’s actually in the bottom half in the NBA when it comes to free-throw attempts per game. He went on to say that this was the case for almost 6 years now.

As a superstar, this is shocking to see, as there is a common consensus among fans and analysts that superstars get a more favorable whistle than the average NBA player.

James even added how his teammates reacted to seeing him get hacked in game, and said, “The funny thing is, I have a lot of teammates that come to the Lakers, and they’re like ‘Man, I used to think you got every goddamn call, and I hated it. Now that I’m on your team, it’s like oh my goodness, you don’t get any calls!'”

Even this year, LeBron James attempts only 4.7 free throws a game, which is the lowest it’s ever been in his illustrious 22-year Hall of Fame career.