A former Cavalier is not on Team LeBron this time.
ESPN retired analyst and forward Richard Jefferson was caught enjoying several Instagram posts by Juliana Carlos, who gained 15 minutes of fame and LeBron James’ nickname, “Courtside Karen” after his raucous actions during the Hawks-Lakers game on Monday night .
“Richard jefferson is doing dirty lebron liking all the photos next to Karen’s court on instagram,” the Twitter account @buckets wrote shortly after the game, accompanied by four screenshots of Jefferson enjoying Carlos’ photos.
Jefferson, 40, has played for eight teams throughout his 18-year career, including the Cavaliers during James’ return to Cleveland. The pair won the NBA championship in 2016 and are close.
Jefferson, perhaps jokingly, did not refute the accusation and even took a step forward.
“Wait, can you see this? 🤬I am on her side, ”he wrote in a quote tweet moments later.
Carlos – who claims to be 25 on social media – was one of four fans kicked out of Atlanta’s State Farm Arena on Monday after engaging in a verbal altercation with the Lakers star during the fourth period. She held up her two middle fingers while being escorted out and posted a video full of profanity on Instagram claiming that James was the one who started the fight by cursing her husband, Chris Carlos.
“I have no problem with LeBron,” she said. “I don’t give a damn about LeBron. Anyway, I’m minding my own business, drinking my [beverage], having fun. Suddenly, LeBron says something to my husband, I see it and get up. And I said, ‘Don’t fucking talk to my husband.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘Sit down, bh. And I said, ‘Don’t call me ab-h. You sit here. Get out of here. Don’t talk to my husband like that. ‘”
After the game, James, 36, coined the nickname “Courtside Karen”, which became a trend on Twitter hours later and generated a flood of memes #CourtsideKaren.
“Courtside Karen was MAD MAD !!” James tweeted after the Lakers’ 107-99 victory, in which he recorded 21 points, 7 rebounds and 9 assists.
“At the end of the day, I’m happy that the fans are back in the building,” James told reporters after the game. “I don’t feel like I should be expelled. There was an exchange of ideas between two adult men. We said our part, he said his part, I said my part, and then someone else jumped up and said his part. I didn’t think they should have been expelled, but they may have had a few drinks, maybe, and they could probably have continued and the game wouldn’t be about the game anymore, so the referees did what they had to do ”.
The Lakers moved to 16-6 this season after Monday’s victory and will face the Nuggets (12-8) at Staples Center on Thursday.