LeBron James always keeps receipts.
James danced on Doug Gottlieb’s grave on Monday over the Green Bay basketball coach’s embarrassing 3-24 record in his first year.
“Earned 2 Not Given! Gotta give him credit, though,” James said on X, along with laughing and poop emojis, boasting about Gottlieb’s horrific record.
James is presumably targeting Gottlieb for his criticism of son Bronny prior to the 2024-25 season.
Gottlieb received a question in July about whether Bronny –– who played for the USC Trojans in 2023-24 en route to becoming a Lakers second-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft –– was good enough to start on his team.
“My answer was, ‘He would compete to start. But while I like how he moves the ball and defends, he wouldn’t be my point, and I don’t view him as a point guard. He doesn’t play point guard. He doesn’t want the ball. He doesn’t run a team. He doesn’t want to defend the point guard. He doesn’t play like point,” Gottlieb said on his radio show on July 12, 2024. “So, he wouldn’t be my point, my wings are bigger, and without seeing him with us, it would be hard for him to start; to be honest.”
Questions about Bronny’s draft status swirled over his health and perceived nepotism, and they’ve grown as he has struggled mightily in his limited time in the NBA, shooting 25 percent from the field and 23.1 percent from 3-point land, in just 17 games.
However, he has, at times, starred for Lakers’ G-League team, scoring 22.6 points per game in 33.2 minutes per game in just five games for the South Bay Lakers.
“When I say it, it gets skewed into the ‘you’re a hater,’ or now I’m ‘just trolling.’ I wasn’t trolling, I was asked a question I gave an honest answer,” Gottliebe continued. “Bronny James is struggling and I’m not dancing on his grave. I’m not laughing at him. I’m telling you I know what it takes to be an NBA team and I saw all of this coming.”
Gottlieb, who signed a five-year contract worth $1.33 million in base pay to coach the Phoenix, may not have been doing any grave dancing, but James certainly is — and he’s not the only one who’s done so.
Adam Schefter chose to target Gottlieb’s horrific performance after the Green Bay head coach criticized the ESPN insider over an NIL post in December.
“Jeezus, Doug. A seven-game losing streak and last place in the Horizon League? Less time on social media and more time in the gym,” Schefter wrote, along with a screenshot of the Horizon League standings showing Gottlieb’s Phoenix in dead last.
Two months later, Green Bay is still in the league cellar, going 1-15 in the conference and 3-24 overall.
Green Bay has four games left in its season before it mercifully comes to an end, though the dunking on its coach may only be beginning.
