NBA
Audio leak allegedly shows Rockets coach Ime Udoka called LeBron James a ‘soft-a** boy’
By now, everyone’s heard of the on-court beef between Ime Udoka and LeBron James from last Saturday night, in the purple and gold’s 107-97 win against Houston. However, did you know what was actually said between them during the fiery exchange?
A new video has gone viral after it showed the apparent lip-reading supported by an audio of their discussion, which claims that the Rockets coach first called the Lakers “b*tches,” as the all-time NBA scoring leader wasn’t having any of it.
The four-time champion reacted and confronted the opponent’s trainer as referee J.T. Orr witnessed from up close, eventually handing out two technical fouls with 8:35 remaining for the final buzzer, with the scoreboard 93-77.
LEAKED Audio Of Ime Udoka Trash Talking LeBron James๐:
Udoka: โStop crying like b*tches, manโ
LeBron: โWeโre all grown men, that b*tch word ainโt coolโ
Udoka: โSoft a** boy, stop b*tching. Acting like youโre gonna do somethingโ pic.twitter.com/tmcFFsxpUu
— LegendZ (@legendz_nba) December 3, 2023
This resulted in Udoka’s ejection from the game, as he had already been assessed a technical foul earlier in the match. There 46-year-old then shouted:ย โStop crying like b*tches, man,โ according to the audio leaked of the exchange at Los Angeles’ Crypto.Com Arena.
Even though the video is yet to be confirmed as a legitimate depiction of what actually happened between them, it certainly seems as if it did.
โWeโre all grown men, that bโch word ainโt cool,โ James answered, to what Udoka responded:ย โSoft ass boy, stop bโching.ย Acting like youโre gonna do something.โ
Once the game was over, the press were all over both of them, desperately trying to figure out what truly happened that ended up in the coach’s ejection from the contest.ย โWe had some conversation and [they] didnโt like what they heard,โ Udoka shared.
As for LeBron, he got funny with it, claiming they were both just talking about the recent holidays.ย โThanksgiving โฆ how much we enjoyed Thanksgiving,โ the 38-year-old joked when asked about what the exchange was about.
The L.A. superstar ended the game with only 16 points, but added 7 assists and 4 rebounds to contribute to the Lakers 12-9 mark on the campaign. The player is listed as questionable for this Tuesday’s game, as the purple and gold will host the Phoenix suns for the In-Season Tournament’s quarterfinals.
Dillon Brooks blamed the referees for not stopping the exchange between LeBron and Udoka and letting it happen in front of their eyes
Even though both James and Udoka decided to keep the specifics of what happened to themselves after the game, Houston’s Dillon Brooks decided to blame the NBA officials during Monday’s training session.
The referee crew was made up of Tre Maddox, Dedric Taylor and J.T. Orr, this last one being the closest to the exchange and the one who handed out the double technicals. The Rockets forward believes he practically let it happen.
โI tried to push LeBron out [of] the way from it, but the refs just let it get out of hand,โ Brooks expressed. โA terrible group out there that was reffing, and they lost control of the game. Itโs very inconsistent. Thatโs what you get from inconsistent refs, a whole bunch of nonsense.โ
The veteran athlete then showed some appreciation for his coach, who in a way tried to defend his players by not caving into the Lakers’s game. Brooks explained why what happened doesn’t come as a surprise to him, as Udoka is working hard to improve the team’s collective defense and culture.
โHe wasnโt backing down to anybody,โ he said of the new Houston coach. โHe played the game before. Weโre still finding our identity as a team and with our coach standing up for us, itโs a big thing.โ