From the moment LeBron James was drafted into the NBA in 2003, he has been a better player than he was expected to be. In fact, at 18 years old, the then-Cleveland Cavaliers star was humiliating even the best defenders in the league while he was still a rookie in the league. Having been on the wrong end of the stick himself, Metta Sandiford-Artest [formerly known as Ron Artest] spoke about his incident during his time on the All The Smoke podcast in 2020, something LeBron James recently came across, and couldn’t help but chuckle at publicly.
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LeBron James came into the NBA with much fanfare, something he justified from the very get-go. In his very first game in the NBA, James put up a very impressive 25 points, 6 rebounds, and 9 assists in an unfortunate loss to the Sacramento Kings, as per History.com. So, from very early on, most players and fans had an idea of what James was already capable of. Unfortunately for him, this knowledge failed to help Metta Sandiford-Artest in any way whatsoever.
Speaking on his first-ever game against LeBron James, the following is what the Former NBA player said in 2020.
“LeBron came into the league. The first game in Indiana, I was so pissed. The first game in Indiana, he gave me 25. He went to the fans and said ‘this is your best defender.’ Right? I hear this. I’m f****** furious.” I’m super f****** pissed. He was disrespecting me and I want to walk up to this m*********** but he bust my a*s. That was like wow! This is crazy!”
Artest was far from a slouch when it came to defense. He was the 2003-04 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, who also made 4 All-Defense teams during his time in the NBA, along with his many other achievements. Still, it is hard to blame him too much. After all, given how good James was from the very beginning, only letting him score 25 points is not bad at all.
That said, as Sandiford-Artest admitted, he isn’t too proud of the game in question, even saying that James “busted his a**”, something James evidently found hilarious. Take a look at the X[Formerly Twitter] post below.
LeBron on IG pic.twitter.com/jHdGhkYltn
— tragicpatek (@tragicpatek) March 14, 2024
It’s clear that James wasn’t looking to mock the 2010 NBA champion. Instead, ‘the King’ was likely just laughing at Artest’s hilarious delivery of the story in question. And to be fair to the Lakers’ star, given Metta’s affinity for comedic storytelling, James likely wasn’t the only one left in splits after hearing the anecdote.
LeBron James once addressed talking smack on the basketball court
In 2020, LeBron James and the Lakers locked horns with Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. After two games in the series, the Lakers were up 2-0 in the series. So, during Game 3, most fans expected the Lakers to make quick work of the Heat since again. However, much to everyone’s surprise, Butler put the team on his back and rallied to win the game, bringing this series record to 2-1, as per Basketball Reference.
After the conclusion of Game 3, it was revealed that Butler and James exchanged words countless times, visibly talking smack to each other. When he was asked about it after the game, James said the following, as per FanNation.
“I’ve always been a guy who kind of let his game do the talking… But when guys get to talking, I can do that as well. I’ve always tried to let my game do the talking. Some guys like to talk their way through the basketball game. I think it helps them out, personally. There’s always communication going on on the floor.
For me, personally, as long as it doesn’t get disrespectful, I’m fine with it. But I’ve never really started up a trash-talking dialogue. That’s just not me. I believe the way I play the game is enough trash-talking in itself.”
Four years on, James seems to follow the same ideology. While the now-39-year-old has had a few spicy interactions with multiple opposition players since he is seldom the one to cast the first stone. And given that an old dog rarely learns new tricks, it is highly unlikely this side of him will ever change.
