Even the reporter who asked LeBron James about his social media activity knew this was a non-story, prefacing his question by saying he was "not thrilled asking it." But he had to ask it because even when James un-follows the Twitter account of his employer, the Cleveland Cavaliers, a story takes shape.
The Cavaliers somehow have the look of the most dysfunctional first-place team in any sport in recent memory, and Monday night's rout of the Denver Nuggets is a perfect example. Though James dropped a triple-double and the Cavaliers buried the Nuggets by 33, clinching their division in the process, it is his social media activity that is grabbing headlines.
"It appears you un-followed the Cavs on Twitter today and it's caused quite a stir. Why did you do that?" a reporter asked James.
To which he replied, "Next question."
After a different reporter asked about his assist totals, James seemed to struggle to find an answer before saying he was "done" and left the media session.
The (un)official word from James is he is cutting down on the accounts he follows to limit distractions ahead of the Cavaliers' playoff run. James also un-followed several reporters in addition to the team's official feed. Though he is following just 14 less accounts, his timeline should be considerably less basketball-centric.
If James does not want to answer questions about what he does on Twitter, and this is not the first time he has, he could have just suspended his account all together. He could have had someone change his password for him. But if sub-tweeting and being philosophical is how he gets through a season, then the questions will continue.
And as a result, in this case, James' 41st career triple-double, his team's second consecutive division title and a 33-point rout at home will go relatively underreported. The win was also the Cavaliers' 50th win of the season, a plateau only the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs have reached thus far.
"Along the journey you never want to take things for granted and accomplishments that happen along the way," he said. "You've got to take it in. It's not given every year, obviously, that you can win a division title, win 50 games in a league where it's so hard to win. I've been fortunate to do it a few times so it's a great thing for our franchise and a great thing for our guys here and it's something that you can always talk about when you're done playing ball. It's a pretty cool thing."
