After the Los Angeles Lakers' 134-127 win over the Memphis Grizzlies, LeBron James was greeted by a familiar face. As the superstar was walking off the court, he spotted Fox Sports analyst Nick Wright sitting courtside. James took time to go say hi to him, dapping him and his wife up and speaking to them briefly before he exited to the locker room.
Nick Wright is known for being one of LeBron James' biggest supporters in media. Not only does Wright often argue LeBron's GOAT case, but he also backs him in the press as often as possible. Wright is one of James' biggest fans and continuously speaks his praise.
James has stirred up a lot of drama over the last few weeks with his comments. He did an explosive interview with Pat McAfee, where he unloaded on a lot of figures in the media, including Stephen A. Smith and Brian Windhorst, the latter of whom he called weird for saying they were best friends.
LeBron's issues with Stephen A. Smith have been well documented, with James confronting the ESPN analyst a few weeks ago for his comments about Bronny James. Since then, Smith has been on what James described as a 'Taylor Swift' run, going to every media outlet to talk about the altercation.
Smith has crossed a lot of lines, including claiming that LeBron didn't attend Kobe Bryant's funeral. The 'First Take' analyst had to retract that claim after several people pointed out that he was fabricating things in an effort to make James look bad. Channing Frye even called out Smith and ESPN for lying about things to exacerbate the issue.
Richard Jefferson pretty much confirmed that LeBron went on Pat McAfee's show to take jabs at Smith because of the latter's issues with him at ESPN. Several people have shown support for LeBron, including Wright, during this recent controversy.
However, there are those who feel that LeBron carries some blame. Charles Barkley accused James of being a bully toward Smith and Windhorst in the interview. It's fair to say the interview was one of James' most polarizing moments across his career. But he felt he had to step up and say something after years of facing a lot of backlash from the media.
For the most part, James has stayed quiet since the interview, choosing to focus on the remaining games of the NBA season. The Lakers are currently sitting fourth in the Western Conference with a 45-29 record. They will want to try and close the gap over the Nuggets and the Rockets, who sit above them in the standings, and preferably surpass at least one of them heading into the playoffs.
The Lakers don't have an easy stretch coming up, as they play both the Thunder and Rockets twice. If they can win at least two of those four games, that gives them a chance to surpass the sides above them and secure either the second or third seed for
themselves.
