While Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben wasn’t talking about pro sports, he was onto something when he said “with great power comes great responsibility.” And if LeBron James doesn’t understand that already after two decades in the spotlight, he’s probably going to receive a reminder of it rather quickly.
On Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers dropped another game, falling to the Atlanta Hawks 138-122. While that result was tough in isolation, it was only compounded by circumstances. LA also suffered a double-digit defeat on Monday night, falling 135-119 to the Houston Rockets.
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Those two losses brought the blue-blooded ball club a game below .500 (24-25). The Lakers are still in a play-in spot, but they’re only a half-game ahead of the 11th-place Rockets. It goes without saying that a team boasting James and Anthony Davis expects better, especially given that they showed enough to claim the inaugural NBA In-Season Tournament title.
It was in those circumstances that LeBron fired off a single post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. At 2:26 a.m., he sent across little more than an hourglass emoji.
But the Lakers’ loss wasn’t the only context. Darvin Ham, the club’s head coach, has been under pressure lately as defeats continue to mount. Shams Charania and Jovan Buha of The Athletic, for example, reported that there could be simmering discontent in Hollywood.
“There’s currently a deepening disconnect between Darvin Ham and the Lakers locker room, six sources with direct knowledge of the situation say, raising questions about the head coach’s standing,” the pair wrote in a story published on January 4. “The people spoke with The Athletic on condition of anonymity so that they could speak freely on the matter. Those sources have described that the disjointedness between the coach and team has stemmed from the extreme rotation and starting lineup adjustments recently from Ham, leading to a fluctuating rhythm for several players across the roster.”
And it seemed like we saw proof of that reality on Tuesday, when Christian Woods posted “Lol” shortly before game time. The move was viewed as a criticism of Ham’s lineup choices, but Woods later told the media that he had simply made a mistake and failed to properly quote another X post.
That brings us back to James’ hourglass emoji. And while there are plenty of benign explanations, posting that in the wee hours of the morning after another loss got negative social media speculation swirling.
On the NBA subreddit, one user broke down the different hourglass emojis and noted that James used the one that had more sand in the bottom than in the top, suggesting that time is running out.
Others had jokes about Ham’s job security ready to go.
“Tweeting that at 2:30 AM EST is nuts, klutch mafia is about to drag Ham out of bed,” user LosAngeles1s wrote.
“The tinted black vans just pulled up to Darvin’s residence,” user BigBallerBryant added.
Others referred to James as either “LeGM,” a relatively common term used to suggest he’s making personnel decisions (like hiring and firing coaches behind the scenes), or “LePassiveAgressive,” which largely speaks for itself. The topic of a trade was also floated, if you believe that the star was more generically saying that time was running out on the season, as opposed to saying Ham needed to go.
And, of course, there were a few sillier jokes.
“He’s playing Boggle,” user Boydivision30 quipped, for example.
But, no matter your preferred phrasing, the perceived negative sentiment was clear. Many basketball fans felt like the star was suggesting that something had to change within the Lakers organization, and while a dramatic trade is theoretically possible, teams will usually side with the star player over the head coach.
Adding further fuel to the social media fire is a clip of James appearing to react less-than-favorably during a huddle. And while you could claim that things will get emotional during the heat of the moment, the video does draw parallels to Giannis Antetokounmpo drawing up his own play before the Bucks made a coaching change.
Newsweek attempted to reach out to Klutch Sports Group via the contact email on its website to request comment about James’ post, but the message was returned as undeliverable. Both Klutch Sports and agent Rich Paul’s X accounts are closed to direct messages, and a Wednesday morning phone call to United Talent Agency’s New York phone number went unanswered.
And beyond the heat that James, whether intentionally or not, heaped on Ham, things will also get tougher for the Lakers in the coming days. They’ll embark on a three-game road trip and face the Celtics and Knicks before a winnable date with the Hornets, and the Nuggets visit Los Angeles.
How close is Ham to the brink? At this point, no one outside of the Lakers front office can really be sure. But when you’re sitting below .500, facing anonymous reports about the state of the locker room and see a late-night tweet from your biggest star, your seat is probably feeling a bit toasty.
Unless, of course, the Lakers were simply unwinding with some late-night Boggle.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.