LeBron James responds to Michael Malone’s thirsty shots, buries Nuggets HC

The Denver Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat in five games to become the 2023 NBA Champions. Despite it being the first championship in franchise history, members of the Nuggets still could not stop thinking about LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Nuggets head coach Michael Malone took a stray shot at LeBron on ‘The Pat McAfee Show’, making fun of LeBron saying that he was contemplating retirement this offseason. Then, during the parade that was meant to celebrate Denver’s accomplishments, they instead went the cringe route and called Malone the “Lakers’ daddy”. Nice.

LeBron James is not someone that always responds in the public light but it is obvious that Malone’s thirsty shots struck a nerve. James took to Instagram to respond, and quite frankly, buried Malone without ever having to mention his name.

https://twitter.com/GuruLakers/status/1669827094237552640

LeBron James destroys Nuggets HC Michael Malone in response to thirsty shots.

Point, LeBron. Sure, the Nuggets did get the best of LeBron and the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals but they failed to pass the test of acting like you have been there before. That is because, well, they haven’t.

Malone has a losing playoff record prior to this Finals run that was only improved on because he has the best player on the planet playing for him. Take any coach in the league and put them on the Nuggets and the result probably would have been the same with how otherworldly Nikola Jokic was playing.

But hey, it is totally understandable why Malone felt so compelled to keep talking about the Lakers and LeBron. Los Angeles has absolutely dominated Denver historically in the playoffs and LeBron still has four times as many championships as an individual than the entire Nuggets franchise.

But hey, who knows, maybe Jokic will carry the Nuggets to four consecutive NBA Championships that way Malone can finally catch LeBron. Maybe then he will actually have a case to make.