Turns out LeBron James is just like me. We vibe out at the gym, shirtless, singing at the top of our lungs to songs that match our current mood. The difference, I suppose, is that every workout video James posts on his Instagram is dissected so as to psychoanalyze the NBA’s most visible player. Meanwhile, when I do it the staff at my gym just asks me in a stern voice to stop scaring the other customers.
James took to the social media network on Friday, posting videos to his feed showing him singing and dancing to Meek Mill’s Never Lose while at the gym.
LeBron James is back in the gym and enjoying some Meek Mill pic.twitter.com/Bz0bZ3NJDW
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) August 4, 2017
There isn’t much to analyze here, as this time the message seems pretty clear: LeBron James will never lose. It’s not a literal message, though: failure is inevitable in this world and LeBron James has lost in five NBA Finals and he’s lost plenty of regular season games.
The larger point seems to be that the current offseason drama — losing in five games to the Golden State Warriors and Kyrie Irving’s abrupt trade requst out of Cleveland — will not bring James down. James’ first video begins with the bridge of the song, where Mill talks about how haters lose when they begin to hate and “bitches” switching sides. Here are the lyrics there, in case you’re curious.
Wins and them losses, turned us to bosses (Turned us to bosses)
Yeah, when them n***** started hated, man that’s when they lost us
Yeah, I seen their bitches switchin” sides soon as they cross us
F*ck ’em
But I never trip and I feel like that bull, I’m a Taurus.
At this point James really is just like the rest of us, finding words in the art he enjoys to convey his emotions in a meaningful way without having to say them himself. Here’s another one.
https://twitter.com/gifdsports/status/893511700313501697
Nothing LeBron posts happens in a vacuum at this point. As silly or goofy as they may seem at first glance, they’re serious messages from LeBron about his future once you understand the context. It’s very clear that these videos are made for a reason: to respond to what’s happening with Irving and how the Cavs will fare without Irving whenever he leaves Cleveland. LeBron thinks he will be fine.
James has said in the past that he will not influence what the Cavaliers do with Kyrie Irving this summer, but if you’re trying to read the tea leaves and discern what James is thinking, make sure you’re following him on social media. The videos tell us what’s going on in his head pretty clearly.
