Its Rivals Week in the NBA. And there might be no bigger rivalry in the league today than LeBron James vs the Warriors. It was evident tonight as the Lakers took on the Bay Area franchise. Sure enough, LBJ brought out his A-game and even dished out a little trash talk to add salt on Stephen Curry and Co.’s wounds. However, the move backfired with fans turning on the Lakers superstar.

The incident occurred in the closing minutes of the game. As the home team tried to muscle a comeback, Buddy Hield got a chance to cut down the lead from the charity stripes. However, he missed one of his free throws, leading to a wild reaction from LeBron. An on-court mic caught the Lakers star yelling “G– Damn!,” as Hield missed.

Moreover, James head butted the ball after it bounced off the rim. Well, his trash talk might have been one of the reasons the Warriors lost confidence as they ended up losing by ten points. Of course, Buddy had another terrible shooting night as he finished with only 10 points on three of nine shooting.

Although LBJ’s strategy worked, the hoop community noticed the irony in him trolling Buddy for missing a free throw. Comments like “Bron the last person to be talking 😂” and “Bro never shot 80% talking like that 😭😭👏” began flooding in.

Yes, James has his fair share of haunting memories from the charity stripes. As great a player as he is, his free-throw efficiency has never crossed 80% in his 22-year career. Many have even deemed LeBron a ‘Choker’ for missing several clutch free-throws. Meanwhile, even amid his struggles, Buddy is shooting far better than LBJ, at 84.6%. Apart from trolling James, some fans even questioned his antics!

LeBron James accused of Yelling during Buddy Hield’s routine as fans admire his Soccer skills

While most fans slammed LeBron for trolling Buddy’s missed free throw, one even questioned if his yelling played a part in it, “After? Wym after? this was while he was shooting.”

Yes, the audio reveals that the 4x champ might have begun his trash talk while Hield was still in his shooting motion, and that distraction might have led to the miss. In that case, a whistle should have been blown by the official. However, that never happened.

Meanwhile, some netizens were just focused on LBJ head butting the ball as one wrote “We’re not gonna talk about how he put his head there on purpose? 😭” while another said “Bron Watching too much soccer lately.”

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Well, LeBron is in fact a minority stake owner in Liverpool FC. He often attends their games to show support. Maybe, he picked up a few soccer skills during his time there, and showed it off tonight by heading the ball. What are your thoughts about LBJ’s unusual interaction with Hield?