NBA legend calls LeBron’s antics against Pacers ‘stupid, childish’
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — One of the NBA’s all-time greats is criticizing LeBron James for his on-court “celebration” at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar released a video on Substack and YouTube, calling LeBron’s actions Nov. 24 stupid and childish.
During the game against the Pacers in Indianapolis, James did what Abdul-Jabbar called the ‘big balls’ dance on-court after hitting a key three-pointer.
The NBA fined James $15,000 as a result.
“For me, winning is enough. Why do you have to do a stupid, childish dance, and disrespect the other team on the court?” Abdul-Jabbar said in the video. “GOATs don’t dance.”
Abdul-Jabbar is the NBA’s all-time scoring leader with 38,387 points and won the league’s MVP award a record six times.
Abdul-Jabbar also noted the NBA has been fining players who do that dance since the 2010-2011 season.
In that same Nov. 24 game, James had game officials remove two Pacers fans from courtside.
The NBA later told News 8 the fans were removed for “violations of the NBA Fan Code of Conduct,” but did not specify the violations.