Since this entire post will largely be ripping into Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, I will begin with this compliment: LeBron James is one of the greatest basketball players in the history of the NBA, with a level of physical skill that has seldom been seen in league history.
In fact, he is so skilled that the only force on this Earth that can match it would be James’s hubris (if Michael Jordan weren’t a month shy of turning 60, he could easily match — or exceed — LeBron, but that’s a different debate for a different time.)
As prodigious of a talent James has been through his two-decade pro-career, he’s also shown himself to be one of the most thin-skinned, hypocritical, race-baiting and anti-American player during that same 20-plus-year period.
But James’s worst trait? It’s easily his overinflated sense of entitlement, and this story from The Oregonian/OregonLive hammers that point home in a painfully evident manner.
The story itself, which focuses more on James’s son, Bronny, is about the will-he-or-won’t-he dalliance between James’s eldest son possibly attending the University of Oregon.
The reason that relationship is in the air is rather simple: Bronny may be interested in playing for the Ducks, but the school and head coach Dana Altman haven’t offered him a scholarship.
That’s kind of a big deal, no?
But fear not Bronny, your father certainly isn’t.
“Dana knows,” James said on Sunday, speaking to The Oregonian/OregonLive after the Lakers game against the Portland Trailblazers. “He knows the interest. And it’s mutual.”
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Again, a lack of a scholarship offer would seem to imply that, at the very least, the interest might be a little more one-sided than James is implying.
But there’s a reason James isn’t sweating it. And it’s every bit the sickeningly entitled response you would expect it to be.
“All I have to do is pick up the phone,” James said. “If Bronny says he wants to go there, he’s good enough.”
“All I have to do is pick up the phone”? Seriously?
James could not have sounded any more entitled there, short of also complaining that his diamond tiara is too tight and all of his $100 bills don’t fit in his wallet.
Beyond that, it also takes a lot of never committing to a school despite not receiving an offer. Now, Bronny is the 33rd-ranked prospect in the country, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at.
But 33rd overall is a far cry from being a top-3 or top-5 ranked prospect. And there’s also an argument to be made that his surname may also slightly over-inflate his value as well.
And sadly, based on other comments made by James, it’s clear that he has no problem passing this sense of entitlement to his children.
“I think Bronny can go to any college he wants to,” James said.
That’s simply not true, LeBron.
And there’s something to be said about this entitled mentality in today’s age, where it seems more rampant than ever. Bronny shouldn’t be happy to go to Oregon because his famous father pulled some strings. He should want to procure a basketball scholarship on his own merits.
Alas, this type of drivel is sort of expected from James at this point. It’s been well over 20 straight years in the public eye of seeing James act like the entitled diva that he is.
All you have to do is listen to him.
