LeBron Tweets Praise For Cavs' Collin Sexton Right After Lakers Collapse
It's early in the NBA season, but the Los Angeles Lakers basically stink.
They lost their first two games, both at home, before squeaking out wins over the Grizzlies and Spurs (in overtime).
Then they blew a 26-point lead to Russell Westbrook's old team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, in front of Westbrook's fans, a game in which Westbrook got ejected.
In fairness, LeBron James hasn't played in the past two games, sitting out with a sore ankle. The Lakers weren't that impressive with him ... but at least they didn't resemble Anthony Davis' old New Orleans Pelicans, as the Lakers do without James today.
With him, they look fairly old, plodding, and way out of sorts, but at least they seem like they will eventually be a winning team.
On the flip side, James' former team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are extremely young, exciting, full of basketball life and have won three straight -- including the first two games of their trip out West.
So while the Lakers choked against the Thunder, the Cavs breezed past the Clippers back in LA. During that game, Cavs guard Collin Sexton threw down a massive left-handed dunk right over Clippers forward Nic Batum. It was a play that made all the highlight reels and understandably so.
It was so good, in fact, that LeBron himself tweeted about it ... despite the fact his very own team just had the air popped from its balloon.
"My goodness Young Bull!!" James tweeted, referencing Sexton's nickname. "With the left too."
There's nothing wrong with offering praise for another player. James truly is a fan of the game. But the timing, given all that had just happened with his current team, is a little peculiar.
No biggie for sure. Just something that's kind of funny and that drew criticism from the Twitterverse.
James led the Cavs to a title in 2016. He did the same with the Lakers inside the Orlando bubble in 2020. One of those was really cool. The other has an asterisk, as those Lakers will forever be known as The Walt Disney World Auxiliary Gymnasium Champions. (At least in my mind.)
Interestingly, guess who the Lakers' next opponent is? You guessed it: Sexton and the Cavaliers. That game is in LA, and there's no word yet whether James will be ready to play.
Either way, we can just assume he's rooting for the Lakers. And Collin Sexton.
Follow Sam Amico: @AmicoHoops