LeBron James Shoves Overeager Fan at Game

One man who tried to get the attention of NBA star LeBron James saw his stunt backfire spectacularly.

Footage circulating on social media showed the basketball legend minding his own business during pre-game warmups Monday when the man, described as a “fan” in social media posts, suddenly appeared and tried to speak to him.

Surprised by the man’s approach, LeBron shoved him away with one hand before the man was escorted off by security.

A fan from the Thunder-Lakers game runs up to Lebron #Lakers pic.twitter.com/1gk0wwgXMF

— FFraire_ (@Fernadad1) January 16, 2024

Separate footage showed a visibly upset LeBron speaking to a member of stadium security before returning to his seat.

A fan at tonight’s Lakers-Thunder game was kicked out after running up to LeBron James on the bench and putting his arms around him.

The fan was kicked out, and James was seen visibly upset. pic.twitter.com/FDQvjY2okY

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 16, 2024

The incident took place prior to play between the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder at Crypto.com Arena in downtown Los Angeles.

The game then proceeded without incident, with the Lakers winning by 122 to 105 and LeBron recording 25 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and one shove.

Present in the crowd were a handful of celebrities including supermodels Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner, fashion designer Sarah Staudinger and social media influencer Lauren Perez.

January 15, 2024: Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber, Sarah Staudinger and Lauren Perez attends the Los Angeles Lakers vs Oklahoma City Thunder game at https://t.co/H9yeSa2Ntx Arena in Los Angeles, CA.

📸 More pics: https://t.co/fuSJUgnV5V pic.twitter.com/GcyyqzCDmZ

— Kendall’s Gallery (@kendalljbrs) January 16, 2024

It is not the first time that LeBron has grabbed the headlines after clashing with fans.

In February 2021, four fans were ejected during a game between the Lakers and the Atlanta Hawks after engaging in a verbal spat with LeBron at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, ESPN reported at the time.

Courtside Karen was MAD MAD!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

— LeBron James (@KingJames) February 2, 2021

LeBron later took to Twitter to mock one of the women involved by dubbing her a “Karen,” a derogatory term for a white woman who is viewed as excessively entitled.

The Lakers will return to action as they face the Dallas Mavericks in Los Angeles at 2:30 Eastern.

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Ben Kew is a conservative journalist and commentator. Originally from the United Kingdom, he studied politics and modern languages at the University of Bristol. He started his career at Breitbart London aged 20, before moving to the U.S. to cover Congress and eventually becoming the outlet’s Latin America correspondent until the end of 2020. Since then he has worked in editorial roles at RedState and Human Events. He has also written for The Spectator, Spiked, The Epoch Times, The Critic and PanAm Post.

Ben Kew is a conservative journalist and commentator. Originally from the United Kingdom, he studied politics and modern languages at the University of Bristol. He started his career at Breitbart London aged 20, before moving to the U.S. to cover Congress and eventually becoming the outlet’s Latin America correspondent until the end of 2020. Since then he has worked in editorial roles at RedState and Human Events. He has also written for The Spectator, Spiked, The Epoch Times, The Critic and PanAm Post.