LeBron James can be considered one of the most media-trained athletes in the NBA.
From his youth with the Cleveland Cavaliers up to this current tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers, James knows how to get people on his side while also leaving a hilarious joke once in a while.
This was not one of those times.
James made a comment that made fans of the Memphis Grizzlies and the residents around the area furious.
What did LeBron James say about Memphis?
James went on the Bob Does Sports YouTube channel to play golf and have some lighthearted conversations. A lot was going well for the Lakers star, and it was a great time until the topic of Memphis came along.
James made it clear that he did not like that area of Tennessee and urged the Grizzlies to move to Nashville instead.
“I’m f—ing 41 years old, you think I want to do that s— being in Memphis on a random a— Thursday. I’m not the first guy to even talk about it in the NBA. Like, we all like, ‘You guys have to move.’ Just go over to Nashville. You got Vanderbilt over there, and you got the f—ing NASCAR. You got a stadium. Don’t they have a hockey team too? Like they got everything,” the Lakers star declared.
There was a very realistic chance that James could have played for the Grizzlies, too.
The franchise from Memphis was a lottery team back in the 2003 NBA Draft. James ended up with his hometown team in the Cavaliers instead because they notched the first overall pick. However, the Lakers star made it known that he might not have played for the Grizzlies even if he got selected by them.
“Their only chance for me to play there was in 2003 if they would have won the lottery. And I might have pulled an Eli Manning and not showed up,” James added.
To add context to the Lakers star’s snarky comment, the younger Manning was the first overall pick in the 2004 NFL Draft. He wound up getting selected by the San Diego Chargers, a team that he did not want to play for.
What did he do instead? Well, Manning made it clear to everyone on that squad, from the front office to the players, that he was not going to go on that field in their jersey. So they traded him away to the New York Giants, where he would win two Super Bowls while beating Tom Brady.
Look, this is not the first time that the Grizzlies and Memphis received tough comments from NBA players. Draymond Green also urged the team to relocate to Nashville instead of staying in their current city back in March of 2026. Fans from Memphis and of the Grizzlies have every right to be irked by this comment, but the question of relocation might become more serious because the Lakers star spoke out.
