With LeBron, I think it is a combination of a couple of things. Yes, he is an all-time great and a major superstar, so refs may be hesitant to argue with him on a questionable decision. But he is also ancient, in athlete years. He has been referreed by all the refs plenty of times and probably knows where each of their thresholds are and what behavior may trigger them. He also seems like a nice guy, so sometimes it is not “a player whining to them about a call he did not like” but it is “their buddy LeBron pointing out that they keep falling for a flop”.
Besides, James gets superstar calls. He has no right to whine about anything.
This really shows that refs have too much discretion with technical fouls. I don’t think the NBA will do anything about it though. I’m sure they see it as critically necessary to stop players from saying/doing family-unfriendly stuff.
The favouritism towards Lebron is really corrosive though. They should never have let him become such a whiner in the first place!
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I don’t mean just this game. LeBron does it every game but he never gets T’d up! Why does LeBron get so much leeway from officials but not Luka?
David_Eight@lemmy.world 4 months ago
I looked into this a little out of curiosity and found the results interesting. Most techs this year so far.
Anthony Edwards - 18
Dillon Brooks - 18
Isaiah Stewart - 15
Jayson Tatum - 14
Trae Young - 14
Luka Doncic - 14
Draymond Green - 13
Ja Morant - 12
LeBron James - 0
LeBron literally had 0 techs all season. I guess being the GOAT(ISH) has it’s perks or… the refs are scared of being fired lol
TAG@lemmy.world 4 months ago
With LeBron, I think it is a combination of a couple of things. Yes, he is an all-time great and a major superstar, so refs may be hesitant to argue with him on a questionable decision. But he is also ancient, in athlete years. He has been referreed by all the refs plenty of times and probably knows where each of their thresholds are and what behavior may trigger them. He also seems like a nice guy, so sometimes it is not “a player whining to them about a call he did not like” but it is “their buddy LeBron pointing out that they keep falling for a flop”.
Besides, James gets superstar calls. He has no right to whine about anything.
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 4 months ago
This really shows that refs have too much discretion with technical fouls. I don’t think the NBA will do anything about it though. I’m sure they see it as critically necessary to stop players from saying/doing family-unfriendly stuff.
The favouritism towards Lebron is really corrosive though. They should never have let him become such a whiner in the first place!