LeBron James blasted for stealing spotlight from 2024 NBA Finals

A former teammate of LeBron James has accused the Lakers star of hogging the spotlight from the 2024 NBA Finals.

Kendrick Perkins, who spent two seasons as James' teammate in Cleveland, has lashed out at his former teammate for singing the praises of Kyrie Irving and thereby forcing the media to talk about him instead of the Celtics and Mavericks players who will compete for the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

"Here we go again: 'Bron weaseling his way into somebody else's moment," Perkins said on "NBA Today" on ESPN. "This is not about you. Your team [the Lakers] is at home. This is about the Mavs and the Celtics. Yet, you're so mad and disappointed that you're not Kyrie Irving's running mate no more. Here we go again."

Perkins was referring to comments James made about Irving on the latest episode of the "Mind the Game" podcast. While discussing the Mavericks' run to the NBA Finals, James expressed regret that he's no longer the teammate of Irving, whom he won a championship with eight years ago.

 "...Sitting here watching it, I'm like so [expletive] happy and so proud to watch him continue his growth. At the same time, I'm so [expletive] mad that I am not his running mate anymore," James said of Irving.

Meanwhile, Irving, too, was shocked when the media asked him about James before any NBA Finals-related questions during his news conference on Wednesday. 

"Is that the first question? Oh god! Gotta love this, man," Irving said while speaking fondly of his time playing with James. "Shout out to 'Bron, he knows how to stir up a media storm and get everyone here to talk about us [instead of the NBA Finals]."

Irving will be playing in his first NBA Finals without James. However, he'd be running alongside just as cerebral a floor general and game manager in Luka Doncic.