The Los Angeles Lakers Social Media Team Tried To Cloak LeBron James In The Twitter Loser Graphic For Credit Last Night. Not On My Watch
Nice try guys. For those unfamiliar with what the hell I'm talking about, the Los Angeles Lakers social media team never put LeBron James in a "Final" tweet graphic of a loss. This was originally discovered last year when some hero alerted YouTuber Kenny Beecham and Kenny - in a heroic effort of his own - Paul Revere'd it to the world.
Up to this point in the season, LeBron hasn't provided so much as a pixel of himself in any lost game final tweet. Until last night.
As you can see above we clearly have Patrick Beverly and Dennis Schroder with either enough of facial profile or name/number visible to immediately tell who it is. That's where the artistry comes in. Shoutout to the photographer who was probably on a mission by the team to side-step whatever LeBron might have demanded in his contract while also being legally able to answer "no" if asked if they are doing this weird image-protecting twist on shadow banning. Whoever that was nailed this shot and in doing so revealed what the alleged stipulations LeBron required might be for loser final graphics.
1. No face
2. No number
3. No name
None of these three show up and even if you zoom in to see the "6" on his shoulder strap don't let the Lakers tell you that's for him. That's a Laker thing for the late great Bill Russell.
Another thing. I've been working on a side project this year to pick up the baton from Beecham and - as soon as I've been able - adding the losing graphic to a tweet thread every Laker loss replete with a season leaderboard. The worst part of this is that it requires I follow the Lakers and get notified of their tweets. Let me tell, they are all good displaying LeBron in any other context. But the best part is that "Team minus Bron" is winning. It's exactly like it sounds. The graphic shows almost every player huddled up with the team leader nowhere to be found.
I had a tough call to make last night in light of this after Schroder and Beverly were sure fires. I thought about going with "Cloaked Bron" given the technicality of the situation, but for now the call on the field stands. If they keep this up though - that will be all the more hilarious and I'll consider a stat change even after determining the ruling is final in the current leaderboard:
The more I think about it, the more I want contract approved Bron to continue to make more appearances. But I'll be continuing this quest as best as possible throughout the rest of the season. For now - let's lay out the evidence for all to make their own conclusion in this definitely being some prima donna work.
- Jeffro
* Missed first game - unable to search on Twitter. Curious.