Jeff Teague made the Club 520 podcast a hit by taking fans into the strange corners of an NBA journeyman’s career, with a genuine sense of humor and seemingly no line he was afraid to cross.
That seemingly caught up to the 12-year NBA veteran and 2021 champion on an episode this week.
During a conversation about the best NBA teams of all time, Teague ventured into that sort of territory once again. Only instead of telling a story about his own career or experiences in the NBA, he suddenly shared a revelation about one of the greatest players ever.
“Miami ‘Bron, he was on steroids, bro,” Teague said. “He had to sit out, he was on steroids. For real. Allegedly. But he had to sit out.”
“They started testing for HGH and … he had to sit out. He said his back was hurting, and he sat out for like three weeks. And he came back skinny. I was in the league, I remember. He came back and he was crazy, though.”
Immediately, fans online jumped on the rumor. An old clip surfaced of Max Kellerman on First Take alluding to strange patterns with James’ musculature. Everyone seemed ready to believe Teague’s allegation.
But just as soon as his quotes went viral, Teague backtracked.
“Y’all weird I was joking about Bron he was just that dominate (sic) chill,” he wrote on his Instagram story.
With Teague’s deadpan and the laid-back nature of Club 520, it’s difficult to tell for sure how much of a joke the James conversation was. One thing that stands out is that Teague is careful to say “allegedly” when accusing James of taking banned substances, but did not hedge the details of the 2014 timeline at all.
On Thursday’s episode of Club 520, Teague revealed a James fan confronted him at a gas station after his steroid comments.
“He looked back like, ‘You a hoe, you a snitch,'” Teague recalled. “‘Bron didn’t do that!’ I’m like … ‘stop playing, bro.'”
Teague said he ignored the man until he moved on.
It’s unlikely that Teague has any inside information, but the confidence with which he recalled the details — coupled with others like Kellerman commenting on it over the years — would appear to indicate that this is at least a conspiracy theory in NBA circles. Teague was just the one loose enough to share it on-air.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.