LeBron James has been the best basketball player in the world for years. He is also 6’8 and 250 pounds. If you lose track of where he is on a basketball court, it was actually be kind of impressive.
The Orlando Magic managed to do this on Saturday night. At one point in the third quarter, Kyrie Irving threw a pass to Tristan Thompson at the three point line. No one was around Thompson, so Nikola Vucevic stepped up to defend him. At the same time, Aaron Gordon seemed like he was caught between keep Thompson from driving or staying focused on LeBron, who was standing in the corner.
Gordon chose poorly – he spent a split second focusing his attention on Thompson. This let LeBron cut right to the rim, Thompson threw up a lob, and King James cocked his arm way back and dunked. Watch as Gordon spins around because he completely lost track of the best basketball player on earth.
Throw it anywhere near LeBron and you're 👌 pic.twitter.com/kY3o8YxVKc
— NBA (@NBA) March 12, 2017
You’d think by this point we wouldn’t have to have this discussion, but hey Orlando Magic: if your options are keep Tristan Thompson from doing something at the free throw line or guard LeBron, you should always choose the second thing. This lesson applies to everyone, but it’s probably safe to assume that every other NBA team knows that giving LeBron an unimpeded path to the rim is a bad idea.
