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LeBron James was in a forgiving mood on Wednesday night. Not for the Chicago Bulls, who the Los Angeles Lakers rolled over 121-110, but for teammate Austin Reaves.
The NBA's all-time points-scoring record-holder was referencing an old tweet from Reaves, that trolled James for not having a championship ring at the time.
Then 13-year-old Reaves posted the tweet back in 2012, when he was dreaming of making it to the NBA. It featured a photo of Lakers great Kobe Bryant.
Over the image of the late star were the words: "When I need some peace and quiet I set my phone to LeBron mode, no ring."
Austin Reaves posting this on Facebook in 2012 and now LeBron is his teammate ? pic.twitter.com/wdIZ8zT6Nk
— PointsBet Sportsbook (@PointsBetUSA) March 13, 2023
Speaking after the game, the pointed tweet was brought up. Thankfully, James was in the right place mentally to tackle the question.
He told reporters in response to what he thought of the anti-James tweet Reaves posted long before he thought he would become his teammate: "Even if he loved Kobe more back in the day, I forgive him."
Reaves was the talk of the locker room after another industrious game in which he was 7-of-8 from the field and made all four of his free throws, giving him 19 points on the night.
The win was sweet revenge for the Lakers, who lost to the Bulls on Sunday, putting their playoff chances in jeopardy. However, they have bounced back since and are now in position to push for sixth place in the conference and avoid the play-in for a place in the postseason.
Reaves was also back to his trolling best by hitting back at Bulls guard Patrick Beverley, who had taunted James with the "too small" celebration after netting for two points against him at the weekend.
After Reaves scored against Beverley late in the game on Wednesday, he hit him with the same gesture as he showed that the former Lakers player's antics had not gone unnoticed.
With the playoff push continuing with another four road games among the six left for the Lakers, they move on to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, who are occupying the seventh playoff spot at the moment.
Every game is key for the Lakers if they want to make the postseason and they will be pleased that James has shown no ill effects from the right foot tendon injury that had sidelined him for 13 games before his surprise appearance on Sunday.
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