Late last night, shortly after LeBron James caught some majorleg cramps that prevented him from playing at the end of Game 1 of the 2014 NBA Finals, Gatoradethrew some shade in his direction. They called him out for favoring a different kind of sports drink (LeBron endorses Powerade) and pointed out that "hydration definitely would've helped" when someone sent them a tweet asking if Gatorade would have prevented LeBron from cramping up.
As it turns out, though, LeBron was reportedly drinking Gatorade last night, because Gatorade is the NBA's official sponsor. So the BodyArmor sports drink company spent this morning calling Gatorade out for trying to make another drink company look bad. They sent out these two tweets a little while ago:
.@Gatorade @LazyBumDrew Hmmm... are you sure @KingJames wasn't drinking Gatorade last night?? #UpgradeYourSportsDrink pic.twitter.com/UwGZE3qaH5
.@Gatorade Awkward? Don't you sponsor the NBA & aren't players all forced 2 drink @Gatorade in game? #whofailed? #UpgradeYourSportsDrink
Additionally, BodyArmor endorser Kobe Bryant took a subtle shot at Gatorade as well and called the NBA out for forcing all players to drink Gatorade simply because they are a league sponsor. The Black Mamba posted this photo on Instagram a short time ago:
And he also wrote this caption: "Pro and college players should be allowed to CHOOSE what sports drink hydrates them the best and not be FORCED to drink LEAGUE SPONSORS. #AthletesChoice 2 much on the line for cramping #UpgradeYourSportsDrink @drinkbodyarmor #AthletesFirst."
Kobe probably has a point here. If a guy wants to drink Gatorade, Powerade, BodyArmor, or, hell, Crunk Juice on the sideline, that should be his decision. He shouldn't be forced to drink whatever the league tells him to drink. But outside of that, this was an incredibly savvy business move by Kobe, who essentially just used LeBron to promote one of his own sponsors. Maybe he learned a thing or two from Michael Jordan the other night after all...
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[via Instagram]
