LeBron James has just achieved the greatest victory of his life. He knows it, too In an Instagram post the day after winning the 2016 NBA Finals with his Cleveland Cavaliers — and his third Finals MVP trophy, to boot — James addressed all the skeptics who thought his reign over the league was already finished.
James is feeling rather vindicated after a season of Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors taking over all the league’s water cooler chatter. His Cavs often flailed through melodrama throughout the year while the Warriors made their pristine march through the record books, and the championship seemed like a foregone conclusion to many.
As seen in the post, James has also adopted the Kermit-sipping-tea meme as a sort of emblem for himself in these Finals. This is his way of saying that he’s above all the chatter about his legacy and ego and psyche, operating at a supremely chill level of excellence and focus that us rabble rousers would do better to get on, instead of jawing about him all the time.
And while James’ rather extensive list of doubts conquered this season betray that he is, in fact, quite attune to and affected by what people say about him, it’s his renewed proof that he can change how we talk about him that earns James a moment to say whatever the hell he wants.
