The Los Angeles Lakers have been utter dogshit for a good handful of years now, so the imminent arrival of veteran hand and undeniable superstar LeBron James was sure to stir up strong emotions for the poor, only-very-recently-suffering fanbase.
While most Lakers fans are beyond stoked to have landed the biggest fish in the NBA Free Agency pond, some are salty because… LeBron… is… uh… not Kobe, we guess?
Case in point, LeBron’s arrival to the Lakers was heralded in mural form on the side of a restaurant in Venice, with the bold and striking artwork declaring James as the new “King of LA.”
LeBron James mural on side of Venice restaurant welcomes Lakers newest star https://t.co/y82cpC9Zza pic.twitter.com/fkGZubNzWG
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) July 7, 2018
Can confirm the mural of LeBron that had earlier been vandalized has already been repainted. Here’s a pic I just took of it pic.twitter.com/56OFd4RUAc
— Dom (@domlostitch) July 8, 2018
Harmless enough, right?
Apparently that was enough to get some Lakers fans to the point of apoplexy.
One fan, so unbelievably furious at this extremely good basketball player coming to play for his previously terrible team, offered a bounty of USD$300 for anyone willing to deface the mural. An offer that was taken up practically instantly.
https://twitter.com/LWOSLALakers/status/1016053652853788672
The counterpoints, as provided by the anonymous artist’s amendments, are as follows:
- “LeFraud,” hinting that through some sort of divine miracle, James’ achievements are fraudulent and possibly the work of a demon’s curse.
- “3-6,” referring to LeBron’s record in the 9 NBA Finals series he’s featured in, being held up in this instance as irrefutable proof that he is bad at basketball.
- “We don’t want you!” a blatant lie.
- “No King” referencing a non-existent nickname for Kobe Bryant, perhaps.
Regardless, the vandalism has been soundly denounced by scores of actually sane Lakers fans, all of whom have welcomed James into the fold and are looking forward to seeing the Los Angeles Lakers potentially play ok-standard basketball once again.
The mural itself was cleaned of the offending tags, with the compromise of removing “of” from the sentence. Because even morons need to be appeased from time to time, apparently.
Kobe stans. An extremely petty group.
