Last night, Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David was courtside for the L.A. Lakers’ latest headline-making drama. He just had to get out and stretch his legs, didn’t he?
Right now, the NBA world is alight with discussion over the clash between Lakers star LeBron James and the sport’s most outspoken and incendiary pundit, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. Prior to the Lakers’ meeting with the New York Knicks at the Crypto.com arena yesterday, James confronted Smith on the court about how Smith has covered and commentated upon the career of James’ son and teammate Bronny. Today, basketball players and sports commentators alike are alight with hot takes regarding the relationship between sports media and the athletes themselves, which must be a huge relief to David whose history of sitting courtside at Lakers’ games suggests that the outrage would usually be directed at him.
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No, thankfully, the latest biggest news in basketball that David witnessed from inches away wasn’t his fault this time, although this does mean that David won’t get to reap the social benefits of being newly reprehensible as he did during the 2001 Curb episode “Shaq.” However, given that Smith has since claimed that he attended the game with both David and entertainment magnate Ari Emanuel, the intersection of basketball and sitcom fans have inextricably linked David to the viral feud, especially since TNT aired this hilarious shot just moments before the showdown.
Though yet unconfirmed by David himself, Smith’s claim that he went to the Lakers game with David has since become a major talking point in the rampant and unfounded speculation over last night’s showdown. Now, if real life was like an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, we would expect Smith to quickly hop on TV and blame David for somehow instigating the fight and pin the derisive comments about James’ son on the comedy legend, but, unfortunately for us drama fans, Smith has mostly kept David out of the scuffle in the ensuing media blitz.
Sadly, since David finally ended Curb last April, we probably won’t get to see this scene play out through his eyes and learn of the ironic way he unintentionally sparked yet another Lakers controversy. But, hey, James is always trying to find a way to branch out into comedy, so don’t count out the possibility that we’ll get a send-up of the fight in a Space Jam 2-style Curb reboot in 25 years for everyone to hate.
Content shared from www.cracked.com.