Everything LeBron James does causes a stir even when it’s in his best intentions. When the Lakers and Rockets got into it on Saturday night there were many viewers looking at James to see how he would respond. Would he stand up for his new teammates? Well he did, but his reaction wasn’t quite good enough for everybody. Many viewers and fans took issue with James choosing to grab on to his friend, and Rockets point guard, Chris Paul during the fight and pull him aside instead of defending Lakers teammate Rajon Rondo.
This is a silly reaction because grabbing the closest person involved next to you to stop the fight from escalating is very normal. That didn’t stop James from receiving questions about it, though.
James addressed the media on Monday, explaining that he was merely trying to stop the fight from escalating so they could get back to playing basketball. He also said that his relationship with Paul had nothing to do with it and then joked that he and Paul are no longer friends because of the fight.
LeBron James said it didn’t mean anything significant that he grabbed Chris Paul out of the fight — he just wanted to break it up. Asked if it put him in an awkward situation, James jokes that he and Paul aren’t friends anymore. pic.twitter.com/G1mkx8BjvK
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) October 22, 2018
“Nah, all I cared about was trying to get the thing over with so we could get back to the game. That was all on my mind at the end of the day. Separate the whole altercation and help the referees out.”
“Nah, actually we’re not friends anymore.”
While James seemed to accept that the fight happened and all they can do is move on from it, the Lakers will still have to deal with the consequences of the NBA’s punishment for the fight. Rajon Rondo was suspended three games and Brandon Ingram was suspended four, leaving Los Angeles without two of its normal starters. In their place will be Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma. James didn’t seem too concerned about who he would be playing with, though.
“I didn’t think anything of (the suspensions.) That’s the rule. That’s how the league came down so next man up.
Everybody has to do their job and whoever’s gonna get more minutes than what they usually get will have to do their role and do their job.”
James has been around the NBA for a while, so fights are something he’s used to. He knows that players are going to be suspended and the only thing you can do is move on from them. Though James would obviously would prefer that to not be without his usual teammates, especially on a team still trying to figure out how to play together, letting it impact how he approaches the game wouldn’t be helpful to anybody. All James can do is play his game and help the Lakers.
