A Los Angeles Lakers legend took issue with LeBron James’ bench behavior this past week.
During a recent preseason outing between the Lakers and Golden State Warriors, an adorned in street clothes James could be seen eating on the bench.
It didn’t take long for the video to go viral.
For obvious reasons, the imagery rankled Lakers legend Michael Cooper.
LeBron played 18 minutes of efficient basketball, immediately changed into street clothes, and brought his dinner to the bench 🤣🤣🤣pic.twitter.com/weYUkcy69p
— Lakers All Day Everyday (@LADEig) October 14, 2023
lebron ate on the court.
lebron ate on the court.— Delbeezee 🐍 (@delbeezee) October 14, 2023
Ledone for the day eating his Lepostgame meal. What a Lelegend
— HEBI (@ScreenMage) October 14, 2023
Lefamished
— First Name is Bala (@Pele_xxL) October 14, 2023
Look at the portion that was a snack
— Luis Martinez (@MartinezLuis209) October 14, 2023
Agree with Coop!
— j peck (@jenreana32) October 17, 2023
Michael Jordan, the GOAT never ate on the bench…just saying🤷♂️
— Dan Pepper (@PepperDan) October 17, 2023
Should’ve eaten in the back. Kinda tacky.
— ContextKingg👑👑 (@ChasingNumba18) October 15, 2023
LeDoingWhateverHeWants
— BAD LUCK CHUCK (@chuckky34) October 14, 2023
While fan reaction was relatively mild, Cooper thought it was a big deal.
“I didn’t like that,” Cooper said in the aftermath.
“I didn’t like that. Again, he’s LeBron James, but still, you got to have respect for the game, man he’s sitting over there. I don’t mind the guy eating, but go eat in the locker room, and then when you come out and be part of the team, not just sit at the end of the bench eating.”
James is obviously a lightning rod for attention. Be it for the way he opts to handle female fans or his occasional beefs with folks sitting in the stands, the man knows all eyes are always on him.
Livvy Dunne and her boyfriend couldn’t keep their hands off each other at the LSU game: https://t.co/mGhQvXMKCw
— Game 7 (@game7__) October 17, 2023
In that respect, it’s hard not to question why he ate so openly in view of all the cameras and whatnot. He had to have known that there would be some backlash.
Will James ultimately respond to Cooper in any capacity? Time will tell.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
