LeBron James is unlike any superstar athlete we’ve ever had in the history of sports. He’s had a camera in his face since he was 16 years old, has kept a clean profile and stayed out of trouble, but fans say sometimes he stretches the truth.
The issue of James’ truth stretching resurfaced after the Lakers were swept by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals that ended on May 22, and the organization revealed that James’ foot injury might require surgery this offseason.
LeBron James leaving the court at the end of the game. (Getty Images)
It was reported by Lakers team doctors that James tore a tendon in his right foot on Feb. 26. He missed 13 games and returned to the lineup on March 26 to play against the Chicago Bulls.
After that game, he told reporters that two different doctors advised him to have season-ending surgery. He also said that another doctor told him he was “healing faster than anybody they’ve seen before with the injury.”
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James then told the reporters the secret to his healing so fast.
“I went to the LeBron James of feet, and he told me I should (delay possible surgery),” James told the media, choosing not to name the doctor.
Now some NBA fans are construing this as James using the foot injury as another excuse or another fable that needs to be added to his list of white lies.
The conversation about James’ foot injury resurfaced after Celtics fans saw their team lose in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday to the Miami Heat. Jayson Tatum was injured on the first play of the game en route to a 103-84 loss. He scored only 14 points and hobbled throughout the game after twisting his left ankle.
“LeBron stans” criticized Celtics fans for Tatum’s terrible performance, and some social media users replied by claiming James is using the foot injury as an excuse for the Lakers’ defeat.
After recovering faster than doctors have ever seen, LeBron revealed he played with a torn tendon in his foot.
It typically takes at least 4 weeks to recover from this injury…😬 pic.twitter.com/6BkeGuhe5e
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) May 25, 2023
Social media users also compared James’ supposed fib to former President Donald Trump’s bloviating about how fast doctors said he was healing when he contracted COVID-19 in October 2020.
Some Twitter users claimed James always uses an excuse when he gets injured.
NO sensible 🏀 fan is surprised that Lebron Twitter is talking about a foot “injury” that few mentioned at all during the playoff run UNTIL Joker bumped Bron’s foot with his broom while sweeping him
Narrative Control 101
Lebron FAKING INJURY after being dominated is nothing new pic.twitter.com/i0BtTo2dS2
— 😂 Yo Boy Got swept AGAIN! 😂 (@ApexJones22) May 26, 2023
“Kareem at 38 – NBA title and Finals MVP, Duncan at 38 – NBA title and gentlemen’s sweep of prime Lebron’s super team, Lebron at 38 – NBA refs helped stacked team with AD to make play-in, beat Memphis, and beat Warriors but swept by Jokic in WCF; fake foot injury used as an excuse,” wrote a Twitter user.
Lying Accusations Never Die
Things took a turn when the conversation switched from James faking an injury to some of the white lies he has told over the years. Social media users wanted the exaggeration of his foot healing to be added to the list.
So, it’s only fitting to countdown some of James’ most memorable “white lies” he told throughout the years.
In November, James was asked about what Migos rapper TakeOff meant to him after the rapper was killed by a gunshot in Houston. He said that he started listening to the Atlanta-based rap group in 2010, but social media users pointed out that the Migos’ first mixtape wasn’t released until 2011.
“I was listening to those guys my first year with the Heat in 2010. You can ask any one of my teammates back then, they had no idea who the Migos was… I was like ‘I’m telling you these guys are next.'”
LeBron paying homage to Takeoff 🙏🏾
(via @michaelcorvoNBA) pic.twitter.com/UuQHTb1wey
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) November 7, 2022
In 2020, James stumbled on his words when asked about the Malcolm X autobiography book he was reading by a reporter during a post-game interview. Fans believed that he didn’t actually read the book.
In 2006, James did a sit-down interview and said he predicted Kobe Bryant was going to score 81 points before it actually happened. Bryant’s noteworthy game was the second-highest individual scoring performance in NBA history.
In 2021, James was poked in the eye during the Lakers-Warriors play-in game. He hit the game-winning shot but said in the post-game press conference the shot was much more difficult than he expected because he could see “three rims.”
Finally on the list is the 2019 video of James in the studio with rapper 2 Chainz acting as though he invented the concept of the deluxe album.
