LeBron James has to know what he's doing by now because this is just one coincidence too many.
Just consider the string of events.
On Monday, everyone found out he unfollowed his own team on Twitter.
LeBron James unfollowed Cavs Twitter today pic.twitter.com/lClFw43sD2 — Sports Pics (@AmazingSprtsPic) March 21, 2016
On Monday night, after his game against the Nuggets, he had a chance to make nothing of it but instead gave the "no comment" response.
That, of course, only made it a bigger story. And by Tuesday afternoon, we had an actual journalistic report clarifying the matter.
Cleveland.com wrote,
According to a source close to James who discussed the matter with him Monday night, that's not why James unfollowed the Cavs. He did it as part of his process to prepare for the playoffs. There is precedence for this. James puts away all forms of social media once the playoffs begin, to cut all distractions and sharpen his own focus on the task ahead. He calls it Zero Dark 23. He did it last year. James' unfollowing of the Cavs was sort of a preamble, the source said. He's starting to pare down some of the "noise" without shutting off his account entirely.
And the whole trying-to-cut-down-the-noise-on-social-media thing would make a little sense, I guess, if 'Bron didn't go out of his way to, you know, announce he's looking to indulge in more social media.
At this point, he's just screwing with the Cavaliers' feelings. He has to be, right?
I mean, sure, you could say, "It's just Twitter," I suppose. But whatever, dude. It's also 2016, and everyone knows there are certain ways to practice good etiquette on social media. What LeBron has been doing -- for, what, two seasons now? -- definitely ain't one of 'em.
By the way, just so we're clear, I'm not even criticizing James here, necessarily. But I do have to point out how skilled he is at throwing subtle shade at the Cavs on social media.
Like that time he talked about team chemistry without directly referencing his team.
Or how about one night later when he talked about teamwork without referencing, you know, the team.
Or when we found out he was sending out tweets about old friends...
...while vacationing in Miami with old friends.
Or how about that time last season when he subtweeted the crap out of Kevin Love.
Yup, LeBron is the best when it comes to throwing subtle shade on social media, and it's hilarious. Why? Because we all know the Cavaliers can't do a damn thing about it.
