As NBATV got ready to air Friday night’s high-stakes Western Conference battle between the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets, the network came back from break during the pregame show with footage of LeBron James warming up at Crypto.com Arena. Basketball Hall of Famer and NBATV analyst Isiah Thomas couldn’t believe what he saw.
That’s because James was (as he occasionally is during his pregame warmups) shirtless on the court while getting up shots.
In a lengthy diatribe that took NBATV all the way into the second half of its early game in Detroit, Thomas shredded The King for a lack of “professionalism” and implored commissioner Adam Silver to fine James for the move.
“I totally 100% object to this. And if I was the GM or the coach, I would never let one of my players walk out on the floor looking like this. I mean we are a professional NBA league. We ain’t Summer League, we ain’t at the YMCA,” Thomas crowed. “The professionalism in our NBA league has diminished so much.”
Anyone who has covered NBA game or had the luck of being courtside pregame knows this is nothing new for James. He often wears cut-out t-shirts as tank tops or goes shirtless. Most of the time, it goes unnoticed because James is one of the first players to warm up. That means he usually finishes before fans are allowed into the arena.
In this case, NBATV cameras happened to catch him. And it did not sit well with Thomas.
“I like LeBron, I’m a fan of his, so forth and so on. But to walk out on the floor before the game with no shirt on and shoot, where are we at? What are we doing?” the two-time champion point guard said. “Adam Silver, if you want to fine someone, fine that.”
Of course, Thomas and his Pistons were known for their brash, physical style during the 1980s “Bad Boys” days. When he ran the Knicks in the mid-2000s, Thomas was the subject of a sexual harassment lawsuit from a senior Knicks business executive that the franchise ultimately settled for nearly $12 million.
The NBA has changed in many ways since Thomas was around, but James’ choice to take warmup shots without his shirt on is probably not very high on most fans’ list of issues.
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.