Source: Joshua Gateley / Getty
has impressively avoided many on-court beefs until this weekend.
On Saturday’s
Los Angeles Lakers game against the
Houston Rockets, James got into a back-and-forth with the Rockets’ head coach,
Ime Udoka.
It occurred in the fourth quarter when the Lakers were up 15 points as the Rockets were shooting free throws.
James and Udoka could be seen exchanging words on the sidelines before whistles are blown, and both get technical fouls. James stays in the game, but Udoka is tossed because it’s his second tech of the night, and he appears to call him a “soft a-s boy” as he’s thrown out.
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Footage captured by fans and the league appears to show Udoka using the word “b-tch” while James is visibly annoyed he’s using that word so freely. However, the league has not verified the footage or audio.
“We all grown men,” James appeared to say. “That b-tch word ain’t cool, don’t use it so loosely. Don’t use that word so loosely. Nah, don’t use it so loosely, though. Don’t use it so loosely.”
However, we’re not positive about what the two said to each other, and neither was clear when asked after the game.
James took a tongue-in-cheek approach, telling the media that it was a friendly conversation and it was about “Thanksgiving. How much we enjoyed Thanksgiving.”
Udoka was also vague about the exchange, saying, “We had some conversation, and they didn’t like what they heard.”
The former
Boston Celtics head coach was more concerned with the loss and took a shot at the Lakers’ toughness in the process.
“To
kinda get punked by a team that’s not known for physicality or punking people is not a good sign,” Udoka said.
The Lakers ended up
winning the game, 107-97, and James finished with 16 points.
Twitter has gone down a rabbit hole of all Udoka’s and James’ previous meetings as player-coach or player-player and had the jokes ready. See the best reactions below.
