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LeBron James Throws Shade at ESPN’s Brian Windhorst for Being ‘Weird’

Poor Windy.
Michael Kadlick|
James warms up before a game against the Magic.
James warms up before a game against the Magic. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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Brian Windhorst has been covering LeBron James' basketball journey for the entirety of both of their careers. The two went to the same high school—St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron—where Windy began his journalism profession before moving to the Cleveland Cavaliers beat in 2003, the same year James was drafted there.

In 2010, when LeBron made his move to Miami, Windhorst did the same—as he was hired by ESPN that same year to cover the Heat. Since then, the sportswriter has remained with the network, closely monitoring the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

The two know have essentially been conjoined at the hip, but that doesn't mean they know eachother well. In fact, James made a pretty pointed comment to the contrary on ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday:

"I seen Brian Windhorst on one of these shows not too long ago," The King explained. "This guy was saying he's like my f— best friend. These guys are just weird."

Harsh.

In Windhorst's defense, he did tell the SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina back in '22 that he and Lebron, "had messaged [in the past] but we both kind of moved on." He continued, “LeBron doesn’t have personal relationships like that with reporters. He hasn’t for a long time.”

Either way, both have made it—from the same home city—to the top of their professions. That's pretty cool.

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Mike Kadlick
MICHAEL KADLICK

Mike Kadlick is a senior NFL news writer for Sports Illustrated. He’s also a New England Patriots reporter for CLNS Media, where he hosts the Patriots Daily podcast and covers the beat from Gillette Stadium. Before joining SI, Kadlick worked at WEEI sports radio in Boston. He holds a master’s degree in public relations from Boston University. When Kadlick’s not covering football, he can be found running, spending time with his wife and dog, and enjoying all things pizza.

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