Los Angeles — LeBron James and Austin Reaves on Monday revisited the genesis of a four-year-old meme during an appearance on the “Mind The Game” podcast, hosted by James and Steve Nash.
The original footage, recorded on Jan. 25, 2022 at Barclays Center, showed James offering animated instructions to a puzzled Reaves as the Los Angeles Lakers led the Brooklyn Nets by 15 points with a little more than two minutes left. The clip quickly spread across social media and has resurfaced regularly ever since.
The moment in Brooklyn
Reaves told Nash that his confusion stemmed from James’ continued presence on the court despite the comfortable margin. “Why was Bron even in the game right now? It’s over,” the guard recalled.
Nash summarized Reaves’ mindset: “He’s going, ‘Why the f— is he in the game talking about this s— right now?’”
James suggested a statistical incentive kept him on the floor. “I must have needed one rebound and one assist,” the 41-year-old said.
Play-call mix-up
Reaves explained that head coach Frank Vogel had just drawn up an after-timeout set. Believing he would be stationed on the weak side while James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook ran the action, Reaves asked James to confirm his role. “When he told me I was in, I was lost,” Reaves said.
Social-media surge
According to Reaves, James’ decision to share the clip online that night triggered an immediate spike in his following. “My followers went from like 60,000 to 7 million,” he said. “It was ‘bing, bing, bing.’”
The Lakers circulated a photo-swapped version of the meme earlier this year, extending the clip’s online lifespan.
Current season numbers
Reaves is averaging 23.5 points and 5.5 assists in what has become the best season of his career, while James remains productive at 21.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.8 assists as Los Angeles battles for position in the Western Conference standings.
Source: ESPN
