11 years ago, LeBron James was dominating the Atlanta Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals, registering a 37-point triple-double in an overtime victory to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.
Eric Martin, a 42-year-old retired sales executive and Golden State Warriors fan, was watching the game from his couch and made a tweet that has since been enshrined in the Internet Hall of Fame.
“Lebron is 30, this f*ckery won’t go on for much longer, thank god,” Martin posted on his X account.
Over a decade later, the tweet has gone mega-viral, garnering nearly 90,000 likes and 35,000 reposts. Even James has acknowledged it.
“I saw that tweet throughout all of my 30s,” James said in an appearance on the Kelce brothers’ New Heights podcast. “Want to know what’s funny? When I turned 40, the same f*cking guy said, ‘LeBron turned 40, this f*ckery won’t go on much longer.’
“There are many times I considered deleting the tweet,” Martin admitted to the New York Post. “He was 30. And then 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 — and there was just no regression in sight.”
The end still doesn’t appear to be in sight, if James’ performances these playoffs are anything to go by. The Los Angeles Lakers have been without stars Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić, but Friday night saw James score 29 points against the Houston Rockets, including the game-tying three-pointer to force overtime, and grab 13 rebounds en route to another 3-0 series lead.
“It’s kinda like pie in my face,” Martin said of James’ continued dominance.
James’ accomplishments after turning 30 would be enough to get him into the Hall of Fame on their own. He has made 11 All-Star teams, 11 All-NBA Teams, and he became the league’s all-time leading scorer.
Martin is reminded of James’ dominance with every elite performance.
“Anytime he has a good game, people retweet the comment,” he said. “Every single game. I look at my mentions, I look at my notifications, and it’s just people clowning the tweet. Every. Single. Game. It’s a shrine for people now.”
In 2023, Martin was forced through the agony of watching James lead the Lakers past his Warriors in the Western Conference Semifinals, and his phone nearly couldn’t handle it.
“I’ve never seen so many notifications before on my phone,” Martin said. “It damn-near malfunctioned.”
Martin is holding out hope that James won’t be able to lead the Lakers past the Rockets without Reaves and Doncic, but Friday night might have been the final dagger, considering no team in NBA history has come back from being down 3-0 in a playoff series.
“If they do beat them, it’s just going to make the noise around LeBron even louder, which I dread.”
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.