LeBron James and Brian Windhorst have a history.
The long version of that history includes roots in northeast Ohio and Windhorst covering James in high school and for the first decade-plus of his NBA career. The shorter, most recent version centers on James making fun of Windhorst on The Pat McAfee Show for seemingly no reason.
We may be a little closer to understanding the reason after James and the social accounts for his Mind the Game podcast on Tuesday took to X to flaunt their success to one of their early haters: Brian Windhorst.
In a video posted to the podcast’s X account, Windhorst can be seen saying NBA fans “want to talk about the drama” and that “if [James] sits down with (co-host) Steve Nash and all he does Xs and Os for an hour, people aren’t going to like that, either.”
Soon after it was posted, James added a message atop the video.
“Long ways from being done!! Sucks they have to listen to 2 guys who know nothing about basketball talk about basketball! Sorry
@SteveNash,” he wrote.
Long ways from being done!! Sucks they have to listen to 2 guys who know nothing about basketball talk about basketball! Sorry @SteveNash https://t.co/he6BoaPoNg
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 3, 2025
The timing doesn’t quite add up for James to have heard Windhorst cast doubt on Mind the Game before he went on McAfee, but perhaps the King took issue with Windhorst’s attitude toward hoops talk. That is, of course, what sparked James’ beef earlier this year with Stephen A. Smith.
After years of being the subject of tabloid fodder and legacy talk, James took matters into his own hands with Mind the Game to contribute to more basketball-centric NBA coverage. To see people like Windhorst talk down on that aspiration has to be frustrating.
Whether this was the inspiration for James’ wild shot at Windhorst in March or not, it certainly won’t help the relationship between the two. And knowing the competitive freak James is, any doubt will fuel him. Even if in this case, that means doing a great podcast rather than winning an NBA title.
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.