DENVER — The NBA playoffs — particularly the conference finals — brings out the best performance from players. It also brings out the best trolling from fans and haters alike.
Multiline Imports in Denver is taking their love of the Denver Nuggets — or rather, their disdain for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers — to the streets via a billboard ahead of the Western Conference Finals.
The 58th Avenue billboard branches off an abridged version of James' April 29 tweet of lyrics from Jay-Z's "Trouble." The focus of the sign's trolling is the line, "It's apparent you're staring at a legend."
Unlike you little 🤬I'm a grown ass man
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 29, 2023
Big shoes to fill 🤬, grown ass pants
Prolly hustled with your pops, go ask your parents
Its apparent you're staring at a legend
Who, put a few little 🤬in the they place before
Trying to eat without saying they grace before! 🤫👑
That abridged tweet sits atop a photo of James seemingly wincing as he leans back with his arms thrown in the air. Underneath the photo reads, "#LEGENDS DONT FLOP."
What is flopping?
Basketball can be broken down into three categories: 50% athleticism, 35% skill and 15% acting.
It takes strength and skill to power through five very tall figures and place a roughly 1.4-pound ball into a net that's positioned 10 feet above the ground. But the turning point in a game arguably comes from fouls.
Depending on the severity of a violation, a foul can shift a team's momentum, and even put your opponent ahead if they're sent to the free throw line.
Players turn up the drama in order to receive a call in their favor. You might be on the receiving end of a slight bump, but if you throw your body on the court convincingly enough, you could sway a referee into calling a foul in your favor. This performance is often called a flop.
LeBron "LeFlop" James
While James' acting skills have not earned him an Academy Award (yet), he has earned the nickname "LeFlop." And there's some fact behind it.
In 2013, while on the Miami Heat, he was fined $5,000 for flopping following his Game 4 performance in the Eastern Conference Finals.
"Some guys have been doing it for years, just trying to get an advantage," James said the week of the game, per ESPN. "Any way you can get an advantage over the opponent to help your team win, so be it."
In 2021, James received a warning from the NBA for violating the league's anti-flopping rule.
But if you look at his post-game interview from November 9, he doesn't see himself as a flopper.
"I gotta learn to flop or something," James told reporters following his team's loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. "Seriously I need to learn how to do that. Swipe my head back or do something to get to the free throw line."
Now enter the 2022-2023 playoffs. Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr criticized the Lakers and their antics after Game 4 of their series.
“But the Lakers are a team that plays with a lot of gamesmanship. They understand how to generate some calls. I thought they took some flops and were rewarded," he said, per Lakers Nation.
Obviously, that did not sit well with the team down the road in Los Angeles.
“I just know that our coaching staff and us players, we don’t work on flopping,” James said, per Lakers Nation.
Future flops
It would be naive to assume that the flops will stop for the Western Conference Finals. What's not hard to assume is that this series is going to come down to a battle between James and two-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
The series begins Tuesday at Ball Arena.