LeBron James Goes Into Detail on Kevin Porter Jr., Glenn Consor Situation

LeBron James says he was watching Wednesday night's Rockets win over the Wizards when Kevin Porter Jr. hit a game-winning shot for Houston, leading to a very unfortunate gaffe by Washington broadcaster Glenn Consor.

After Porter Jr.'s shot, Consor said the guard, “like his dad, pulled the trigger at the right time.” Consor later apologized and explained he believed Porter Jr. was the son of former Washington Bullets guard Kevin Porter. His actual father, Bryan Kevin Porter Sr., spent years in prison after pleading to first-degree manslaughter, and in 2004, was killed in a shooting at a Seattle bar. 

After sending a scathing tweet about Consor’s mistake, in which he appeared to call for the broadcaster’s job, James again addressed the situation during a Lakers press conference Thursday.

“I stand by my tweet and I stand by everything I said,” James told the media, after pointing out Porter Jr. was born in 2000, when Kevin Porter was already 50 years old.

“I'm not a play-by-play person, an analyst, but I believe that they do their due diligence as well when they get their reports,” James continued. ”If that’s the case, if I am a play-by-play announcer and I’m covering a team, my local team. In his case, he’s covering the Wizards. So he remembers the Kevin Porter who used to play for the Bullets, correct? The first thing I would’ve done, I would’ve said, ‘Kevin Porter Jr. is coming into town. Let me see if that’s his son.’ I would’ve did that due diligence way before, and I think everyone on this call would’ve done the same thing.” 

LeBron related instances where he personally looked up whether Isaiah Thomas, now a former teammate, was related to NBA great Isiah Thomas, along with potential relationships between the Mike James who played for a host of NBA teams from 2001–14, and the player of the same name who played for the Nets last year. As an NFL fan, he referenced that he Googled to confirm rookie cornerbacks Patrick Surtain II and Asante Samuel Jr. are the sons of the two former cornerbacks of the same names.

James, an Ohio State football fan, says he did the same with current Buckeye Marvin Harrison Jr., son of the Colts great.

“I don’t want to hear that excuse,” James said. “Could he have made a mistake? Absolutely. But in our job, in our field, as professionals—we are in the professional league—you’ve gotta do your due diligence, and do your job, all the way to the point where... why did he even say that at the end of that game anyways? Those words? So I'm not taking back nothing I said. Nothing at all.”

With all that said, he says he isn’t calling for anyone’s job, even with how the tweet appeared.

“No, I’m not calling for his job. He’s not my employee. I have enough employees, I have 145 employees at SpringHill, I have to worry about those guys...”

For James, the moment was significant because he knows Porter Jr., like so many other young NBA players, looks up to him.

“I can’t let that ride on behalf of a kid that looks up to me. Kevin Porter Jr. looks up to me, and it’s my obligation to make sure that he knows... that I have his back.”

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