It’s a new day and new drama in the NBA. Just a few days ago, Ja Morant made headlines for his odd celebration gesture. He was later fined $75,000 for the celebration, which was deemed “inappropriate” by the league. Now, a few days later, LeBron James’ one simple gesture has been called out by former NBA player Isiah Thomas. This was met with mixed reactions from fans and experts. After ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith’s sharp take, a former Warriors player also dissected the situation.
The Lakers’ veteran James was spotted warming up before the action at the Crypto.com Arena. This is normal, except that he was shirtless. While it wasn’t so surprising for others, it caught Thomas’ attention, who was quick to criticize. “I just think the professionalism in our NBA league has diminished so much. Look, I like LeBron, I’m a fan of his, so forth and so on, but to walk out on the floor before a game, with no shirt on, and shoot, I mean, come on, man? Where we at? What we doing? Where we at?” he said
He felt that the players nowadays lack professionalism. This is James’ 22nd year in the NBA. If there’s anyone who knows more about the league, it’s undoubtedly James. But did he make a mistake this time? Gilbert Arenas, on his podcast, didn’t seemingly disagree with Thomas.
However, he highlighted how the Lakers veteran is perhaps the most professional player in the league. Comparing the other former NBA players from Thomas’ generation, Arenas said, “That’s the problem with the old heads, You know, back in their day, they showing up the earliest 6:00 clock to a 7:30 game. When LeBron or Kobe came to arena, it was just them. There’s no one actually in the gym but you.Did you ever go to the gym at 2 o’clock? No!”
Popularly known as GaTa, the rapper present for the show argued that the media usually gets into the locker room to interview players who are usually shirtless at the time. “The fans see us our shirts off doing interviews,” Arenas agreed.
Did James react to this? He didn’t respond. However, while congratulating the Lakers’ head coach on a new feat on 50 wins in the regular season, he did make a cryptic remark which seemingly hinted at the situation. “Man I was going to say something but it’s useless at this point in my career!” he wrote. Following this, ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith also responded.
Stephen A. Smith reacts to Isiah Thomas’ professionalism remark on LeBron James
Regardless of the recent controversy between him and the Los Angeles Lakers player, the veteran analyst was quite professional as she shared his take on the matter. Speaking of previous instances where James has shown immense professionalism, including post-game conferences and games, Smith claimed that using James as an example was unfair. “To mention the word unprofessionalism and him with a broad brush would be incredibly unfair,” he said.
However, he further went on to add that the Thomas who made the remark initially wasn’t entirely wrong. Explaining his take on why the former Pistons player made the comment, he shared that James was in a professional setting at the Crypto.com Arena.
“And the reason why it’s more than fair is because you’re thinking about what’s going on in the moment. You’re a man out there with no uniform, no T-shirt on in a professional environment. You’re not in a closed-door practice. You’re out at the arena where fans have already been allowed to enter the arena. It is a professional environment,” Smith noted.
Smith also reminded the fans that the former Pistons player was once the President of the Players Association. This makes sense why Thomas called out James. But several fans have had different opinions, like Arenas. Do you think James was wrong?
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