LeBron James and Austin Reaves are now teammates with the Los Angeles Lakers. In 2012, however, Reaves was just a kid who preferred Kobe Bryant over LeBron. Reaves posted a meme on April 12, 2012 that trolled LeBron James, per NBACentral.
Austin Reaves says he cleared the air with LeBron James after his old Facebook posts resurfaced
"I called Bron over and was like, ‘Look, I was sh*tting on you back in 2012. I was a Kobe fan.’ He just laughed it off."
(Via @melissarohlin https://t.co/79KZODk6Ks) pic.twitter.com/fPfxyRszUP
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) May 9, 2023
Reaves addressed the situation head-on and showed LeBron the meme after SportsCenter posted it, per FOX Sports' Melissa Rohlin.
“I called Bron over and was like, ‘Look, I was s—-ing on you back in 2012. I was a Kobe fan,'” Reaves said. “[James] just laughed it off.”
Reaves, LeBron, and the Lakers currently hold a 3-1 series lead over the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Semifinals after winning Game 4 104-101. LA endured a troublesome 2021-22 season, but have rebounded during the 2022-23 campaign. LeBron and Anthony Davis have obviously led the charge, but players such as Austin Reaves have stepped up as well.
Reaves has even earned the respect of LeBron, with James recently sharing his brutally honest thoughts on the Lakers' budding star.
“I like high basketball IQ guys,” LeBron said of Reaves. “Obviously, you got to have that s**t to win a championship. You got to have guys that can do extraordinary s**t. But like, I’ve always had a liking to guys that just know how to play the f*****g game of basketball.”
In addition to impressing his teammates, Los Angeles likely wouldn't be where they are without Reaves' contributions. The Lakers' depth is turning into a valuable piece to the puzzle, while it was previously one of their most pressing concerns.
The Lakers will try to close out their series against the Warriors in Game 5 on Wednesday.
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