LeBron James seems to have let Michael Malone know he isn’t going anywhere.
On Friday, the 19-time All-Star and four-time NBA champion rebutted the Nuggets coach’s retirement tease, which was in an effort to poke fun at James, who took Denver’s victorious spotlight by floating the idea of retirement with a few cryptic comments after the Nuggets swept the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.
“Speaking of the Lakers, I just want you guys to know — this is breaking news — I’m thinking about retiring so don’t tell anybody,” Malone said jokingly Wednesday on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
He also poked back at the Lakers at Denver’s championship parade, sporting a “Put this in your pipe and smoke it” T-shirt, referencing a testy exchange with reporters following the Nuggets’ Game 1 win.
James answered on Instagram with: “In Europe for the last past few weeks minding my business and I hear I’m on your mind that much huh??? I mean I guess I see why. ????????♂️ But Wave the flag on these lames!! Please make being player cool again cause the lame machine is at an all-time high. Enjoy your light but just know I’m the SUN. I stay on forever! ????????????????????”
By the message, James seems to be hinting that he will be around “forever,” whether on the court or with his records, including holding the NBA’s all-time leading scorer mark since February, and that it would take a lot for Malone to meet his standards.
The attention the Lakers and James received was not appreciated by Malone and the Nuggets, who were the top seed in the West alongside two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.
They felt underrated when they shouldn’t have been, and the team eventually went on to take home their first franchise NBA championship over the Miami Heat.
“The frustration of that series of against the Lakers is, we win Game 1 against the Lakers and the headlines are ‘Lakers figure out Nuggets’ — and we’re up 1-0!” Malone said on the McAfee Show. “You win the series and the narrative is the Lakers, Lakers, Lakers. I think we’ve done enough to hopefully put the Denver Nuggets in people’s minds and their hearts … if they don’t, we don’t give a s–t.”
Charles Barkley offered his two cents on the matter and said that he was “disappointed” in James’ retirement tease.
“I think he did it intentionally,” he said of James. “There’s no way he’s retiring. LeBron’s such a good dude and he’s got his stuff together. I was disappointed he took the shine away from the Nuggets.”
“He knew those fools on ESPN were gonna talk about it! They’re still talking about it! I actually turned my television off the next day because the first two blocks were all about LeBron instead of what the Denver Nuggets accomplished,” he added.