Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are looked upon as the league’s most talented and treasured QBs of all time. However, despite being the two biggest names in the world of sports, they have constantly faced accusations regarding changing narratives and deflecting public attention from important topics by making personal announcements at the wrong time, in order to get more attention.
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It was noticed a couple of times that when the league set up the most important and biggest games, elite quarterbacks like TB12 and A-Rod started giving statements about their retirement. For instance, last season, when the league was preparing for Super Bowl LVII, Brady announced his retirement and stole the thunder. Just like that, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is now being accused of selfishly turning the spotlight on himself at the worst possible time.
LeBron James’ “cryptic” message is too akin to Aaron Rodgers’ and Brady’s retirement saga
Not long ago, James uploaded a mysterious message on his social media, which was a line from a Jay Z song. It read, “I’m supposed to be #1 on everybody’s list. We’ll see what happens when I no longer exist.” As expected, the story went crazy viral.
LeBron. 👀 pic.twitter.com/HNCDtHpeZV
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) May 29, 2023
Additionally, the four-time NBA champion ended his press conference on May 22 on a fairly cryptic note. Initially, the quote left a bit up for interpretation, but as per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, James did suggest that he was, in fact, speaking about his retirement. And as a result, what everyone ended up talking about was James, and not about the Nuggets who whitewashed the Lakers. Highlighting this, as per NBA central, a western conference executive recently called out LeBron for controlling the narrative.
LeBron James to ESPN on his thought process going into the offseason:
Q: When you say you got to think about stuff, what thread should we be pulling on that?
A: "If I want to continue to play."
Q: As in next year?
A: "Yeah."
Q: You would walk away?
A: "I got to think about it."— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) May 23, 2023
Many fans on Twitter also found a correlation between James’ answer and what Rodgers did during the 2022–23 season. After the end of the former Green Bay Packers QB’s season, Rodgers was constantly bombarded with questions about his future in the NFL. He kept avoiding them and spoke in an unclear manner, giving rise to new speculations every other day. This, according to several fans, ended up diverting the attention from every other thing happening in the competition.
However, at the same time, several fans on Twitter also pointed out that instead of blaming the athlete, one should put the blame on media for chasing superstars like LeBron and Brady. Some even held Sports fans responsible for the constant coverage around every other comment made by athletes like Brady and James, as media often covers what audiences likes to read and have been reading.
Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady did similar at the end of the NFL season… Get off his dick https://t.co/fbrH1yEcFk
— Nuc@Night (@joshua_southpaw) May 24, 2023
He’s so damn good at it. Now you’re talking about the narrative instead of the sweep
— Ahmad Scientist (@pharmaziz) May 25, 2023
It’s folks talking about him getting swept more than congratulating the nuggets
— Mr. Whatever (@boogatti500) May 25, 2023
No one is telling the media NOT to talk about Bron getting swept, blaming a 38 year old athlete for thinking about calling it quits is clown behavior
— ♛𝓒𝓪𝓶𝓕𝓛♛ (@CamCWFL) May 24, 2023
He’s not controlling the narrative. He’s just answering candidly.
The media is controlling the narrative cuz nobody cares about the Nuggets. People only really talking about Jokic.
— The Big Wazoski (@rhu_red) May 24, 2023
James talking retirement can mean a lot of things
While it is very obvious that James is trying to keep the spotlight on himself as this season winds down, he could also be bringing up his “retirement” angle in order to put pressure on the Lakers so that they bring in more talented players around him. The team went to the Western Conference Finals but got swept in the process this season.
Another sign that James could not be retiring from the league is that he signed a contract extension last offseason. Retiring now would mean leaving million on the table. Additionally, it was his lifelong dream to play alongside his son, Bronny, and if James retires now, he would not be able to fulfill the dream.
Whether he retires or not, it might be a little while before the Lakers fancy James on the court because he hinted at foot surgery earlier in the season. He may get the surgery in the near future and might miss sometime at the beginning of the next season.
