LeBron James

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James reacted Saturday to a reported surge in hate speech on Twitter since Elon Musk's acquisition of the platform Thursday.

James responded to a report from Drew Harwell, Taylor Lorenz and Cat Zakrzewski of the Washington Post, which detailed findings from a research group known as the Network Contagion Research Institute. The NCRI said use of the N-word on Twitter increased by nearly 500 percent in the 12 hours after Musk took over.

LeBron tweeted the following, calling for Musk and Twitter to take the information seriously:

I dont know Elon Musk and, tbh, I could care less who owns twitter. But I will say that if this is true, I hope he and his people take this very seriously because this is scary AF. So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech. https://t.co/Sy0jvXIBnC

— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 29, 2022

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan and Clare Duffy reported Thursday that Musk had finalized a $44 billion deal to buy Twitter.

Musk, who is a 51-year-old native of South Africa and the CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX, has been outspoken about his support for free speech, which has left some Twitter users bracing for the return of notable banned accounts, such as that of former United States President Donald Trump, who was removed from the platform in 2021 "due to the risk of further incitement of violence" following the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

It has also led to questions about whether accounts banned for racist rhetoric will be allowed back, or if accounts using racist language will be allowed to continue doing so.

In response to questions about the future of Twitter, Musk noted that a content moderation council will be created:

Twitter will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints.

No major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 28, 2022

Musk also noted that no decisions regarding the potential reinstatement of accounts have been made, nor have any changes been made to the platform's content moderation policy.

James is regarded as one of the greatest athletes of all time and has 52.3 million followers on Twitter, making him one of the platform's most influential users.

Regardless of Musk's plans for Twitter, he will undoubtedly be made aware of LeBron's concerns in the wake of his takeover.

LeBron James praised Russell Westbrook's performance off the bench after the team's 111-102 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday at Target Center.

LeBron says Russ was "great" in his role off the bench tonight.

"It definitely catapulted us."

(via @SpectrumSN)

— Lakers Nation (@LakersNation) October 29, 2022

Westbrook had 18 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 33 minutes as a reserve. He finished with a plus/minus of zero, whereas the starters all finished anywhere from minus-three to minus-23.

The nine-time All-Star entered the game averaging 10.3 points on 28.9 percent shooting over his first three matchups, so Friday marked an improvement. His outing clearly helped a second unit that kept the team in the game. Westbrook was replaced by Lonnie Walker IV with the game out of reach in the final seconds.

The 15-year veteran hadn't come off the bench since his rookie year in 2008-09, but the Lakers made a change after an 0-4 start. They rolled with a starting five of James, Patrick Beverley, Lonnie Walker IV, Damian Jones and Troy Brown Jr., who replaced an injured Anthony Davis (lower back tightness).

Ultimately, the Lakers fell to 0-5 thanks in part to Anthony Edwards' game-high 29 points. L.A. was within a possession early in the fourth before Minnesota pulled away.

L.A. will look for its first win on Sunday when it hosts the Denver Nuggets at Crypto.com Arena.

Los Angeles Lakers star forward LeBron James has now scored 20 or more points more times than anyone else in NBA history after his 28-point outing in a 111-102 road loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday evening.

Year 20: Most 20-point games in history 👑 pic.twitter.com/1PC12cxqG0

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) October 29, 2022

James was tied with Basketball Hall of Famer Karl Malone entering Friday but now sits alone after an early fourth-quarter layup gave him 20 points on the evening and 1,135 games of 20 points or more for his career.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan round out the top five.

Congrats to @KingJames of the @Lakers for moving up to FIRST on the All-Time 20-POINT GAMES list! pic.twitter.com/wQMbwbSYAr

— NBA (@NBA) October 29, 2022

James, who is playing in his 20th NBA season, is now averaging 25.8 points per game and 27.1 PPG for his career. His 37,191 points rank second all-time on the career points list behind only Abdul-Jabbar with 38,387.

LeBron James is taking his NFL rooting talents to the Cleveland Browns.

James mentioned during an Instagram Live conversation with Maverick Carter that he has switched allegiances from the Dallas Cowboys to the Browns because of the Cowboys' policy in 2018 that players stand during the playing of the national anthem.

"Nah man, I had to sit out on the Cowboys, man. It's just a lot of things that was going on during the, you know, when guys were kneeling," James said during the live stream. "Guys were having freedom of speech and wanted to do it in a very peaceful manner. A lot of people in their front office and a lot of people that ran the organization was like, 'If you do that around here, you will never play for this franchise again.' I just didn't think that was appropriate."

LeBron James on why he’s not @dallascowboys fan anymore:

“Nah man I had to sit put on the Cowboys man. It just a things that were going on when guys were kneeling... [The] organization were like if do that around here you won’t play for this franchise again.”#DallasCowboys pic.twitter.com/gYusCcs8KY

— Landon Buford (@LandonBuford) October 27, 2022

James added that he still likes a lot of the players on the team, including wideout CeeDee Lamb, running back Ezekiel Elliott, linebacker Micah Parsons and cornerback Trevon Diggs, but he's now "all-in on the Browns."

In 2018, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones—in response to players kneeling during the national anthem in protest against racial discrimination and police brutality after former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick first began the practice in 2016—told reporters that the team's policy was "that you stand at the anthem, toe on the line."

"But in general, I will speak for one, and everybody knows where we stand, and we stand as a team," he added.

It is unclear if the Cowboys still have that policy, but defensive lineman Dontari Poe knelt during the anthem for the 2020 season after speaking about it with Jones.

James, 37, is from Akron, spent two stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers during his NBA career and is an avid Ohio State fan, so the Browns were the natural option for his NFL fandom after moving away from the Cowboys.

Not 24 hours after the Los Angeles Lakers dropped to 0-4 on the season, LeBron James posted a kind-of-cryptic-but-not-totally Instagram caption Thursday that has reading-between-the-lines super sleuths buzzing.

"How long will you be taken for granted.....💭👑. Keep going kid."

LeBron James’ caption on Instagram today after last night’s loss dropped the Lakers to 0-4: “How long will you be taken for granted” pic.twitter.com/34GlAVGg9x

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 27, 2022

Perhaps this caption is a code for absolutely nothing. Maybe it's an innocuous nod to the picture of a 37-year-old soaring through the air, defying age and gravity and, by extension, science. This post might be his way of saying, "Nobody appreciates what I'm doing, at my age, at this level, nearly enough." And he'd be right. His longevity is acknowledged and cherished, but there is no fully comprehending or treasuring his lastingness.

Counterpoint: Yeah, no, that's not what this caption is doing. It can't be. The timing is too incidental to be coincidental. He's sending a message. He has to be.

The 2022-23 Lakers are spiraling, and LeBron, it seems, is fed up. And on the surface, he has every right to be.

Next season isn't a given for LeBron. He turns 38 on Dec. 30, giving him precious little time to play meaningful basketball, no matter how much of a generational anomaly his aging curve remains. But the Lakers are nowhere near playing meaningful basketball, let alone actually sniffing title contention.

Sure, four games doesn't have to be profoundly telltale. But Los Angeles' winless start is merely the sum of all its longstanding flaws actualized.

Russell Westbrook remains a putrid fit on offense. Trading for him while also bankrupting their wing depth during the 2021 offseason was an obviously bad decision then and it looks even worse now.

To what extent Russ deserves blame is questionable. He hasn't reinvented himself on offense as a high-volume ball-screener or spot-up threat. That's also not a surprise. He didn't undergo functional facelifts in Oklahoma City or Houston or Washington. Expecting him to dramatically change in Los Angeles, nearly 15 years into his career, is an irrational hope. It's a minor miracle he's played so hard on defense this season, if we're being honest.

None of which means he's above critique. Before suffering a hamstring injury that held him out of the Lakers' loss to the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday, he was shooting 8.3 percent from deep and 35.8 percent on twos. Both marks would be career lows.

Between his gargantuan salary ($47.1 million), critically bad offensive play and overall fit, Westbrook has received a lion's share of the blame, as if his very presence is the lone barrier separating the Lakers from contention or, at the bare minimum, not sucking.

It's not.

The Lakers as a team are shooting a league-worst 22.7 percent from three and rank dead last in points scored per possession overall. That's not all Russ. Everyone shares in the bricklaying.

Anthony Davis has verged on dominant for stretches but followed up last year's sub-19-percent clip from three with...another sub-19-percent clip from three. Kendrick Nunn is a career 36.1 percent shooter from deep and currently nailing 23.5 percent of his treys while also having notched more fouls (seven) and turnovers (nine) than assists (six).

Patrick Beverley is a career 37.6 percent three-point sniper yet presently joins AD in the sub-19-percent club. LeBron himself is banging in just 25.7 percent of his triples, which would be a career low. Lonnie Walker IV is second on the Lakers in three-point attempts...which he's burying at a 17.4 percent clip.

Merely removing Westbrook from the equation solves little. He wasn't on the floor when the Lakers lost to the Nuggets, and their lineups in which LeBron and AD play without him on the season remain offensive clunkfests and net negatives.

Anyone bellowing obscenities at Russ from the stands or behind the protection of an avatar-less social media account is 1) overdue for some serious soul-searching and 2) misplacing most of the blame. The Lakers are not built by Westbrook or in the image of Westbrook. They were assembled by general manager Rob Pelinka and the rest of the front office.

A majority of the outrage must be directed there, across so many different fronts. Pelinka and company's cardinal sin remains the same: They watched the Lakers win a title in 2020 by surrounding LeBron and AD with complementary shooting and defenders and then decided, not a full year later, to dismantle that nucleus in favor of what Westbrook might possibly, potentially be able to do when one of the two greatest basketball players of all time wasn't on the floor.

That is water-tight logic. So is letting Alex Caruso, one of their most important defenders, walk in free agency on a contract that was neither egregious nor outside their price range. With one of the GOAT candidates on their roster, still playing like a superstar, the Lakers acted like a small-market franchise.

Equally inexcusable: Doing so little in the aftermath of last year's implosion. Yes, the Lakers turned over their supporting cast, but only because most of that supporting cast is now out of the NBA. There's nothing noble about steering into decisions made for you, or for stockpiling largely ball-dominant guards.

Rob Pelinka looking at anyone 6'2" and under pic.twitter.com/vK7CkiArri

— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) October 24, 2022

Almost everyone's favorite pastime is now leaking Westbrook trades the Lakers could have made but didn't. That is damning. It suggests a complete lack of urgency in the face of an extremely urgent situation: LeBron's timeline. He should absolutely be pushing them to make a move, any move, just for the sake of increasing the meaning behind their largely purposeless basketball.

Indeed, the cost of doing so is prohibitive. Trading 2027 and 2029 first-rounders that (likely) post-date the LeBron era is dangerous.

It's one thing if those two picks ended up bagging them Kyrie Irving or another star. It's entirely different to punt on such a massive portion of your future in exchange for Myles Turner and Buddy Hield or Josh Richardson and Jakob Poeltl or Terry Rozier and Gordon Hayward.

The Lakers' current dilemma doesn't help matters. They are so deeply broken beyond the Westbrook fit they might be irreparable. Why mortgage crucial assets just to not contend and, potentially, eat into this summer's cap space?

Because. You. Have. LeBron. James.

Patience isn't a virtue, not in this case. The Lakers waiting for the trade market to expand doesn't ensure they'll have access to superior deals. Better options will incite more competition. And their best package, while steep for them, can be easily outstripped by teams capable of conveying a first-round pick sooner than five drafts from now.

Urgency is at once obligatory and essential. The Lakers haven't shown it. They've done everything but. They've made head coach Frank Vogel the scapegoat. They hired head coach Darvin Ham at least in part because he sold them on making it work with Russ, yet again implying he is the lone obstacle they must overcome.

Amid all these missteps over the past year-and-change, the Lakers extended Pelinka, for some reason, even though he's the architect of perhaps the NBA's most disjointed roster. That's worth another few dozen or so kind-of-cryptic-but-not-totally Instagram captions from LeBron itself. What's left of his window is being squandered, and Pelinka, along with all the other folks upstairs, including Jeanie Buss, should be thoroughly blamed for being so slow or unwilling to appropriately act.

And yet, while the Lakers are no question taking LeBron for granted, he is not beyond culpability. He reportedly pushed for the team to acquire Westbrook in the first place. It is Pelinka's job to override that input whenever necessary, but we can't pretend LeBron has been a voiceless bystander.

What's more, unless the Lakers promised to jettison Westbrook before the start of this season and then reneged at the last second, LeBron signed a two-year extension knowing this was the roster on which he'd be playing. That is eyes-wide-open behavior, and it must factor into the Blame Game currently being played.

Still, even with this in mind, the mess that is this season and team falls at the feet of Pelinka and the front office.

It doesn't matter if LeBron wanted Russ. And it doesn't matter if the Lakers are so far gone it actually doesn't make sense to ship out their draft picks. Trade the picks anyway. Get better now. Figure out how to reload the war chest later. AD and LeBron trades will be on the table in the coming years if the direction goes belly up again.

Pelinka and Co. pivoted away from a proven blueprint into aimless territory more than a year ago, and they've yet to even sort of pull themselves out of the resulting free fall. That is franchise malpractice.

And so, LeBron will soon turn 38, somehow still performing at a level high enough to contend for titles, on a team run by a front office that, frankly, doesn't seem to give a damn.

Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference, Stathead or Cleaning the Glass and accurate entering Thursday's games. Salary information via Spotrac.

Dan Favale covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@danfavale), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, co-hosted by Bleacher Report's Grant Hughes.

LeBron James will host a Thursday Night Football alternate stream in the style of his show The Shop during the Nov. 17 broadcast of the Tennessee Titans vs. Green Bay Packers on Amazon Prime Video, per Jacob Feldman of Sportico.

The show will include James, Maverick Carter, Paul Rivera and other guests and will "bring together a unique mix of personalities across sports, music, entertainment, business, and culture. In addition to live commentary surrounding the evening's TNF matchup, TNF in The Shop will host authentic discussions while the cameras roll."

Given the success of ESPN's alternative Manningcast during its Monday Night Football coverage, doing an interview-style broadcast in a similar vein makes sense for Amazon Prime Video.

The Shop premiered on HBO in 2018 before moving to the Uninterrupted YouTube channel this past year. It features a a number of athletes, musicians and celebrities discussing various issues and providing insights into their particular fields.

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James may have sent a passive aggressive message to the organization following its 0-4 start to the 2022-23 NBA season.

James shared a highlight from Wednesday's 110-99 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Instagram and wrote in the caption, "How long will you be taken for granted….."

LeBron James’ caption on Instagram today after last night’s loss dropped the Lakers to 0-4: “How long will you be taken for granted” pic.twitter.com/34GlAVGg9x

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 27, 2022

The 18-time All-Star may have meant something else entirely with his post. Perhaps it was directed at the Lakers' skeptics. This is the same player who adopted "#WashedKing" as a source of motivation.

James hasn't been above publicly sending coded critiques to his own team, though.

In one famous example, he posted, "Stop trying to find a way to FIT-OUT and just FIT-IN," on Twitter, in February 2015, which was directed at then-Cleveland Cavaliers teammate Kevin Love. During the 2022 All-Star break, some thought he was taking a subtle shot at Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka when he praised the Oklahoma City Thunder's and Cleveland Cavaliers' front offices.

Over the summer, James signed an extension with the Lakers that keeps him in L.A. for at least one more year.

Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes reported in August that James met with Pelinka and head coach Darvin Ham and "drilled home the importance of consistent competitiveness and cohesion." Pelinka, per Haynes, also "promised to provide him with every resource possible to compete for a championship each year he’s with the organization."

The Lakers have so far resisted trading their 2027 and 2029 first-round picks, and using those assets as the centerpiece of a deal is easier said than done.

Absent moving Anthony Davis, this is probably Pelinka's last best opportunity for reshuffling the squad around James and making a major upgrade. He absolutely has to get this right, which means not rushing into any decisions.

But the longer the front office waits, the more the losses could pile up and render a midseason move largely meaningless. At the current rate, trading away two first-rounders for short-term help may be a case of throwing good money after bad

The Athletic's Shams Charania reported Monday the Lakers "appear determined to give the current roster a proper sample size of 20-to-25 games and assess their needs." If James' Instagram post is any indication, then Pelinka might have to accelerate that timeline if he wants to placate his best player.

The Los Angeles Lakers are fast approaching laughingstock status.

Wednesday's 110-99 loss to the Denver Nuggets dropped the Lakers to 0-4 for the first time since 2015-16 and just the third time since the franchise moved to Los Angeles.

Playing without the much-maligned Russell Westbrook, the Lakers still couldn't find a rhythm on either end of the floor. LeBron James finished with 19 points, nine assists and seven rebounds but turned the ball over eight times and made just eight of his 21 shot attempts.

"I wasn't aggressive enough in a lot of my turnovers," James told reporters. "I was coming off a lot of screens, looking to pass, get guys involved, and I wasn't aggressive enough. ... That's an easy fix for me. I'll be much better on Friday with that. I've done it over and over the course of my career. That's an easy fix. I'm not worried about that."

James may not be admitting concern publicly, but this season is already an unmitigated disaster. The Lakers look listless on both ends of the floor, the front office looks incompetent for still not recognizing Westbrook's poor fit on the roster, and somewhere Frank Vogel is collecting a check likely thankful he can't be blamed for this year's mess.

Oh, and social media is letting the Lakers have it.

Lakers at 0-4 with lots of problems beyond Westbrook.

Even besides Russ, they might go down as the worst 3-point shooting team ever. AD's back is bothering him and if he misses any time their defense will collapse.

Pelinka can make moves to improve the roster, but to what end?

— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) October 27, 2022

The Lakers are shooting 33-for-148 on 3s this season. That 22.3% 3-pt FG pct is the worst over any 4-game span by any team within a season in NBA history (min. 125 3-pt FGA). https://t.co/w3DKI9vwSj

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 27, 2022

Lakers fall to 0-4 tonight... without Russ. pic.twitter.com/K6ULndydsE

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 27, 2022

Russell Westbrook watching the Lakers shoot 20% from deep tonight: pic.twitter.com/F1NFJewODh

— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) October 27, 2022

Lakers are just a bad basketball tm. With or w/o Russ. They’re TERRIBLE. Bron has 7 turnovers with 4-10 shooting. He’s playing the worse gm I’ve seen in play in 4ever. 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

— shannon sharpe (@ShannonSharpe) October 27, 2022

Lakers fans after they make a 3 pic.twitter.com/mJapLPanuv

— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) October 27, 2022

Worrying about the Lakers being a good or bad basketball team is not the point. We’re at the space where the team has become performance art.

— Zito (@_Zeets) October 27, 2022

Every Lakers player after shooting a 3 pic.twitter.com/CLZMRDs1UQ

— C.J. Toledano 🏀 (@CJToledano) October 27, 2022

Russell Westbrook in the locker room after the Lakers got smoked without him: pic.twitter.com/4JLpukHtGo

— kingtisemedia (@kingtisemedia) October 27, 2022

"The Lakers are 7/29 from three."

Russell Westbrook: pic.twitter.com/Dcp2Zkt4Pn

— FanDuel (@FanDuel) October 27, 2022

The fact of the matter is the Lakers' issues start at the top with owner Jeanie Buss. The daughter of the late Dr. Jerry Buss fully took the organizational reins in 2017 and has not shown the acumen to lead a successful franchise.

While the Lakers won a championship in 2020 under her stewardship, they did so simply thanks to James' desire to live full-time in Los Angeles and thanks to Klutch Sports' relationship with Anthony Davis. It's not even clear if the Lakers would have won that title if a once-in-a-century pandemic did not hit and allow the veteran-laden roster to have multiple months to rest and recover.

Rob Pelinka, the man in charge of constructing the failing rosters that followed the 2020 title, somehow landed a contract extension through 2026 before this season began. Buss' internal brain trust includes Pelinka, Kurt Rambis and Phil Jackson—three people who do not have particularly glowing recent track records.

The Lakers players deserve their fair share of the blame, but it's hard to win with a poorly constructed roster and an ownership group that cares more about luxury-tax concerns than building the best team.

All three of the Lakers' 0-4 starts since coming to Los Angeles have been in the last decade. There's only one common thread, and it's at the very top of the organization.