Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has been criticized plenty throughout his historic NBA career. One of the major issues he receives backlash about is his fourth NBA championship, which he won during the NBA bubble in Orlando; James’ detractors call it the “Mickey Mouse ring.”
His Lakers teammate Austin Reaves has stepped up to come to the defense of James and his 2019-20 NBA championship. He said his piece in a clip posted on the “BustaJack Golf” YouTube channel.
“It’s not a Mickey Mouse ring. I think everybody had an equal playing field; it’s the same as every other year. I just think if Bron doesn’t win it, then nobody says anything,” Reaves said. “Everybody loves LeBron, but he gets so much hate.”
During the NBA bubble postseason, The Los Angeles Lakers took down the Portland Trail Blazers, the Houston Rockets, and the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference playoffs before beating the Miami heat in six games to become the NBA champions. LeBron James won his fourth NBA Finals MVP that season, averaging 29.8 points, 11.8 rebounds, and 8.5 assists in the six Finals games.
Austin Reaves himself has developed into a formidable team player for the Lakers. Last season, he averaged 15.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 5.5 assists, shooting 48.6% from the field.
Austin Reaves trolled pre-Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James
An old then-Twitter post from Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Austin Reaves resurfaced last season, poking fun at LeBron James. The post was dated 2012, back when James was still with the Miami Heat.
ESPN was the one responsible for the resurfacing of the old tweet. Reaves talked about how he addressed the situation with James in his 2023 guest appearance on “The Old Man & The Three” podcast, which now-Lakers coach JJ Redick and Tommy Alter used to host.
“We were in New Orleans, I didn’t play … I pull up my phone right after the game and the first thing I see is SportsCenter. It’s a picture of Kobe [shrugging], like, ’When I need some peace and quiet, I set my phone to LeBron mode, no rings’, and I was like, [expletive],” recalled Reaves.
“It’s like there’s one of two things I can do: I can shut up and hope he don’t see it, or I could call him over here and be like … ‘Bron, come here.’ He was like, ‘What’s up?’ He walks over, and I was like, ‘I was a Kobe fan back in the day, I was [expletive on you back in 2012.’ he just busted out laughing,” he continued.
Reaves also recalled James just shrugging the meme, laughing and saying, “I don’t care about this.”
James actually ended up winning his first NBA championship in 2012.
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