There is the expectation that a rookie will tend to shy away from calling out star players. That unwritten rule would go double for NBA icons. Perhaps it is his natural moxie or the adrenaline rush from winning the NBA Draft Lottery, but San Antonio Spurs forward Jeremy Sochan had no qualms about going after LeBron James Thursday.

In the Los Angeles Lakers' Western Conference Finals matchup with the Denver Nuggets, James took some contact from Nikola Jokic. It looked like a minimal brush of the face, but No. 6's reaction was as if he got laid out by a prime George Foreman. Sochan spoke his mind after witnessing the incident, likely expressing the feelings of many fans watching at home.

“Why does ‘King' James flop so much,” he tweeted, via ClutchPoints.

A youngling would never survive taking a shot at the king, but as the All-Rookie Second Teamer implied, LeBron James is not an actual king. The only ramifications Sochan will have to deal with will be on the court. Though, he has brought a similar intensity there as well in the early stages of his career. The No. 9 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft averaged 11 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.

James recently claimed that the Lakers “do not practice flopping,” so the timing of the Jokic sequence is quite ironic. LA went on to lose Game 2 in Denver, 108-103, after some second-half shooting struggles. The all-time scoring leader was just one rebound away from a triple-double but could not find his rhythm from 3-point range (0-for-6).

It remains to be seen if James will respond to Jeremy Sochan, but he has more pressing matters to worry about. He played through an injured ankle at the end of the game and will be evaluated. Or maybe that will just make him more irritated and likely to sound off on Twitter.

Sochan is yet another player unafraid to “poke the bear.”