Lakers star forward LeBron James left his seat and confronted the announcer at his son’s basketball game after the announcer suggested referees were showing his son favoritism.
The game featured LeBron’s son Bronny and his Strive for Greatness select basketball team, versus Wildcat Select. The game was played in James’ hometown of Akron, Ohio, on the very same St. Vincent-St. Mary High School court where James himself first caught national attention.
According to Yahoo!:
The incident happened in the final minutes of Wildcat Select’s 73-69 overtime victory. With Wildcat Select leading 67-62, James stood up from his seat near the baseline to yell at the PA announcer who was sitting at midcourt. After an exchange of words, James walked past a barrier and onto the court to confront the announcer face-to-face. Gameplay halted for a moment as James had his say before returning to his seat.
The action was all recorded on a video stream. Per the stream announcers, James was upset that the PA announcer said that Bronny got a foul call because he was playing in a gym with his dad’s name on it.
In James’ defense (I can’t believe I just typed that) the job of a PA announcer is simply to relay what is happening on the court. Meaning, the PA announcer is there to say who shot the ball, what the score is, who the foul was on, how much time is left, and so on.
What the PA announcer is not there to do is offer commentary about who is getting favoritism, who is playing well, which calls were bad, which player has a famous father in the stands, and so on.
In other words, for the first time in what seems like a very long time, James is right about something.