After the Golden State Warriors’ Klay Thompson fired subtle jabs at LeBron James during last season’s NBA Finals, calling the NBA “a man’s league” and insinuating that James had his feelings hurt by Draymond Green, a stunned James sat at the podium prior to Game 5 in disbelief.
“Oh my goodness,” James said. “It’s so hard to take the high road. I’ve been doing it for 13 years. It’s so hard to continue to do it, and I’m going to do it again.”
Now in year 14, James appears to be done playing nice. The best player in the NBA is firing back at his critics, most notably TNT analyst Charles Barkley.
James’ stormy week continued when he blistered Barkley to ESPN following Monday’s loss at the Dallas Mavericks.
“I’m not going to let him disrespect my legacy like that,” James told ESPN. “I’m not the one who threw somebody through a window. I never spit on a kid. I never had unpaid debt in Las Vegas. I never said, ‘I’m not a role model.’ I never showed up to All-Star Weekend on Sunday because I was in Vegas all weekend partying.
“All I’ve done for my entire career is represent the NBA the right way. Fourteen years, never got in trouble. Respected the game. Print that.”
Barkley responded to James’ comments on ESPN 1000’s Waddle and Silvy in Chicago on Tuesday.
“I have no problem with what LeBron said. Some of it was true,” Barkley said. “I don’t overreact and I’m never going to get personal. I stick by what I said.”
Barkley had questioned James’ competitiveness and called him whiny.
“My job is to give my opinion on basketball,” Barkley said. “My basketball opinion is strictly about basketball. I never talk about a guy’s personal life. That’s inappropriate. He was clearly offended because he took it to a personal level. I think when you don’t like the message you just kill the messenger.”
James’ “legacy” has been a point of conversation with General Manager David Griffin at various points since his return to Cleveland. Perhaps he has taken some of those chats to heart.
James has been on a tear lately. He rekindled his feud Monday with New York Knicks President Phil Jackson over Jackson’s “posse” comments and last week he shot the Cavs with friendly fire over the structuring of the roster.
Help in that department, however, may be on the way. A league source confirmed the Cavs’ upcoming workout with a number of free agents. ESPN reported Mario Chalmers, Lance Stephenson and Kirk Hinrich are part of a free agent workout that might help determine whom the Cavs will sign to fill their open roster spot. Chalmers wrote on his Twitter account Tuesday afternoon he was traveling to Cleveland.
James has history with both Chalmers and Stephenson. He was teammates with Chalmers in Miami — Chalmers was often the target of James’ lashings. Now he’s trying to return to the NBA after about a year away to rehab from a torn Achilles.
Stephenson, meanwhile, feuded with James during the playoffs when he was with the Indiana Pacers.
As for James’ change in attitude, he hinted during his outburst last week in New Orleans — when he called the organization top heavy — that he is now comfortable in his own skin.
“I’m just comfortable with what I do,” James said last week. “I can say what I want to say now. I used to be afraid to talk. But I don’t care now.”
That has been evident for a while now and was driven home again Monday night in his comments to ESPN.
“I’m tired of biting my tongue,” James said Monday. “There’s a new sheriff in town.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.