As the saying goes: “It’s a copycat league.” Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James took a page out Stephen Curry’s playbook after he confidently looked-away while splashing in a 3-point shot during their 117-100 rout of the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.
LeBron told reporters after the game that he made the brash move as a result of a bet with Dennis Schroder. While doing so, he also gave the ultimate compliment to the Golden State Warriors superstar.
In a sport in which players are taught to follow their shot from a young age, what James did is not something you see too often. Gilbert Arenas once broke it out on a game-winning 3. Former Lakers guard Nick Young, famously, had the move backfire on him when his shot rimmed out. And Stephen Curry, considered to be the greatest shooter the game has ever known, will pull it off every so often.
“Steph [has] definitely probably done it the most in our league, and when you shoot the ball as beautiful and effortlessly and precisely as Steph does, he has the ultimate, ultra-green light to do that,” James said of his former NBA Finals foe. “‘Cause 10 times out of nine, it’s going in for Steph.”
Just The King giving his respects to the greatest shooter of all time. In case you missed it, here’s LeBron James dishing out the disrespect to the Rockets.
👀 Watch @KingJames!
📺: NBA TV pic.twitter.com/Kd0gbKV2n8
— NBA (@NBA) January 13, 2021
As mentioned, other players have pulled it off, such as Gilbert Arenas, who once brazenly did it on a game-winning triple. Nick Young, of course, infamously made the Shaqtin’ a Fool Hall of Fame while trying to pull off the look-away three.
Curry, meanwhile, has done this countless times, which he came to James’ mind first when asked about the move. In fact, here’s a whole compilation of Curry just outright disrespecting the opponents.
the most disrespectful move in nba history pic.twitter.com/5k8uCa64y4
— Antonin (@antonin_org) September 8, 2020
