When I first started reading what seemed to be a defense of a player who was treated like trash and an indictment of the organization that basically left him out in the sun to swelter, I thought it was bound to be the least self-aware commentary on the current power structure of the NBA, considering the source. After all, if it meant getting Anthony Davis in purple and gold as soon as possible, LeBron James has made it quite clear he'd have no qualms with going one-by-one in dragging the current Lakers off the court by their ankles like they were crying kids in the candy aisle. For him to go the "do unto others" route as a guy who is in the process of gut-punching his roster in trying to grab the league by the balls would basically refine the concept of hypocrisy. As it turns out, I completely underestimated LeBron James, for he turned that comment from a show of sympathy for a fellow player to a defense of himself as both an unappeasable athlete and an overreactive, yet unofficial executive. You want to talk about getting REAL and changing narratives? The tone of that rant went from "How dare they embarrass Harrison that way?!?" to "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business...man" in exactly one piece of punctuation. Somehow, I can actually respect the latter more, for if there's one NBA entity that treats players more like poker chips than people then it's LeBron James. Though, if we're "calling a spade a spade" then there was no need for The King to start off with the bluff of feeling bad for Harrison Barnes, as the Mavericks' lack of professionalism was just his ace in the hole in circling the conversation back to himself.
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