As Game 4 of the NBA Finals came to a close and the Cleveland Cavaliers admitted defeat to the Golden State Warriors, LeBron James dapped up his teammates with his left hand.
LeBron James checks out of what could well be his final game in a Cleveland Cavaliers uniform:#FOX8 #WhateverItTakes#StriveForGreatness pic.twitter.com/Mew9FTBAbE
Then he showed up to the post-game press conference with a cast on his right hand.
About time they gave LeBron a supporting cast pic.twitter.com/szm7Trs9jC
We've since learned LeBron had a serious hand injury. Was it broken? No one really knows. LeBron said it "pretty much" was.
This revelation has spurred fans to question why he didn't disclose the injury earlier. Per a report from Stephen A. Smith on First Take, the Warriors knew about the injury early in the series.
"This was not breaking news," Smith said Monday. "A lot of us [reporters] had heard what happened after Game 1. So we knew that his hand was hurt, and I'm telling you the Warriors knew that his hand was hurt."
Check out his full take below.
LeBron said he kept his injury quiet because he didn't want the Warriors to gain a competitive advantage, but others have speculated it just wasn't all that serious of an injury and he only chose to reveal it after Game 4 because his team had just been swept—it was an excuse.
My perspective: this was a real injury, but James was playing mind games. He just wanted to plant a little seed of doubt in the Warriors' minds about their second title, like: Yeah, you won, but I played through a broken hand and still almost stole two games.
Never underestimate the King's pettiness.
In other LeBron news, one report indicated he does not like Houston—widely considered a contender to land him in free agency—as a city.
"I think the teams that have been mentioned are desirable places to live," Maria Ridenour of the Akron Beacon Journal said. "I will tell you this—I heard this from his own lips when we were in Houston this season that he does not like Houston as a city. So, that would require him moving to a place he's not crazy about."
