LeBron James claps back at Jazz announcers criticizing his shoeless courtside celebration
LeBron James loves basketball. He loves it a lot. He loves it so much that he has to show it, whether he’s watching his son dunk in an AAU game or watching his Los Angeles Lakers teammates from the sidelines. LeBron loves to celebrate, and he did it on Wednesday night when the Lakers were taking on the Utah Jazz.
Clad in socks on the sidelines, LeBron watched his teammates block two straight shots from the Jazz , yelling encouragement while continuing to get closer and closer to the action on the court. He eventually ended up on the court, which the Jazz announcers didn’t like.
Jazz announcers Craig Bolerjack and Matt Harpring called out LeBron’s lack of shoes, and then proceeded to say that his shoeless celebration was “disrespectful” to the game.
LeBron heard about the announcers’ comments after the game, and posted a response to Instagram on Thursday along with the video of his celebration, which includes the criticisms from Bolerjack and Harpring.
Imagine doing your job at the highest level to where you’re not needed anymore, giving your shoes to a lil girl and boy who you inspire and hoped you made proud that night, then cheering on your teammates cause you love seeing them succeed more than yourself only to be criticized while doing it. People it’s the world we live in and you can’t let it ever stop you from your purpose in life. Negativity, bad energy, hate, envy, etc etc will try to bring you down throughout your journey and it’s up to you on how you handle it. I handle it by simply saying “Thank You” with a 😁 on my face and continue to push forward while doing it! LIVE.LAUGH.LOVE 🙏🏾❤️
As LeBron said, he was shoeless for a good reason. He’d given his shoes to two young fans, which was captured on video by the Lakers.
A King on and off the court. #ThisIsWhyWePlay pic.twitter.com/TKp0LsVnmO
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 5, 2019
In the end, celebrating is just a silly thing to criticize someone for. LeBron wasn’t cheating, or interfering with the game, or calling anyone names. He was supporting his teammates after giving his shoes away to young children. Considering that the Jazz lost 121-96 to the Lakers, there were plenty of other things the announcers could have commented on that didn’t involve anyone celebrating.
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