With 48.1 million followers, Los Angeles Laker forward LeBron James is one of the most popular athletes on Twitter. He sometimes uses his massive platform to tweet about social issues, such as getting people to vote, and staying vigilant on election day. But most of the time, he uses it just like everyone else: to tweet about the biggest sporting events of the day, mostly in all caps. It turns out that even his fellow athletes are flattered when the four- time NBA champion tweets about them. 

One of those athletes is Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Cody Bellinger, who is fresh from helping the Dodgers win the 2020 World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays to end a 32 year title drought. In an interview with ESPN’s Sam Alipour, the 25-year old talked about, among other things, how he felt when James tweeted about him, including his leg tap celebration, during the World Series. 

“Yo, you got LeBron to tweet at you!” Even if you're an athlete, LeBron James is LeBron James, the GOAT of everything, so it was cool. The Lakers definitely motivated us. When we saw them win, we were like, “What we got in this locker room, we can do the same thing. We're so talented.”

During the Dodgers’ remarkable playoff run, which included a 3-1 series comeback over the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series, there was talk about how the team can win for the city of Los Angeles much like the Lakers did when they beat the Miami heat in the 2020 NBA Finals earlier in October, which they eventually did. 

 

Bellinger, the 2019 National League MVP, made it clear that they heard James and the Lakers’ challenge, and answered it emphatically by winning another championship for the city.