With all of the speculation swirling about LeBron Jame and whether or not he’ll actually sign the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency this summer, it’s no surprise that the conversation between himself and Lonzo Ball went viral following a Cleveland Cavaliers win.
Both players made efforts to keep their conversation private by covering their mouths with their jerseys, but a mic managed to pick up James’ advice to Ball, including him saying not to reveal to the media about what they spoke about.
While addressing reporters after the Cavaliers’ practice on Saturday, James made it clear he wasn’t thrilled his advice to the promising rookie didn’t stay private, via Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com:
“Some things could be held private, like my conversation with Lonzo,” James said Saturday. “Everything doesn’t need to be said and people find out. There should be some type of privacy.”
James does kind of have a point that just like the rest of the world, NBA players should be allowed to have private conversations, and it’s admirable that he wants to take Ball under his wing whether or not he joins him as a teammate next offseason.
However, James has also been around the NBA long enough to know that if he took the most promising young player on a team he’s speculated to be considering joining aside on the court after a nationally televised game that he also can’t really play the victim here.
James’ every move gets picked apart no matter what he does, but especially when it’s something that’s so obviously going to fuel the fire of an already hyped-up storyline. Because he chose to take Ball aside where he did and so publicly make it seem like what they were saying was top-secret.
Of course, the internet was going to go crazy and do everything it could to figure out what was said, and in this case it did. It’s understandable if LeBron really did want to share a private moment with Ball, but he also should have done it somewhere else if he was really concerned about “privacy.”
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