LeBron James and the Lakers are gearing up for a crucial game against the Rockets, but NBA legend Isiah Thomas shifted the focus to a different topic during the NBA Gametime crew’s promotion of the matchup.
In the video shown by NBA TV, LeBron James was warming up with his shirt off. Thomas, a former coach and executive following his legendary career, balked at James having his shirt off on the court.
Isiah Thomas goes off on LeBron James for warming up shirtless and in a durag
“the professionalism in our NBA league has diminished so much.”
(h/t @awfulannouncing )
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) April 12, 2025
“I just totally, 100% object to this. If I was the GM or coach, I would never let one of my players walk out on the floor looking like this. We are a professional NBA league. We ain't summer league; we ain't at the YMCA… I just think the professionalism in our NBA league has diminished so much.”
Thomas even indicated that he would be okay with Adam Silver fining James for warming up with his shirt off.
Article Continues Below“Adam Silver, if you want to fine somebody, fine that. Put a fine on that.”
Although his comments were critical of James in this moment, Thomas has a history of being complimentary towards James, often celebrating him and his impact on the game of basketball. In an interview with Kory Woods of MLive in August, Thomas shared his opinion about why he believes James is the best player in NBA history.
I think when you look at, like I say, what he's touched and he leads in almost every statistical category. He's passed Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] in scoring. I think he's got the most playoff points.
“Not only that, when you look at the assist column, I know where I stand on the assist record. I think he's passed me; I think he's passed Magic on the assist record. I mean, so when you talk about passing, scoring, rebounding, we've never had a player in the NBA that has touched every statistical category and leads in some of these statistical categories that we're talking about.”