LeBron James allegedly blasts ref with NSFW message after no-call

LeBron James blasted an official during the LA Lakers’ 125-120 win over the Washington Wizards on Wednesday. The incident occurred in the first half of the game as James drove to the basket through contact with Kyle Kuzma. James instantly turned to the ref on the baseline and cursed him out for the no-call.

The Lakers star has generally expressed his frustration with the officials often, but not the way it turned out to be on Wednesday. An “X” user, who goes by the handle “Legendz,” caught James’ alleged leaked audio, in which he’s saying:

“Call the f**king foul. Bitch a** n**ga.”Expand Tweet

LeBron James only had one attempt in the first half from the charity stripe despite being aggressive and playing in the paint. He only had one 3-point attempt. However, calling out the ref seemingly did the trick for James, as he was awarded eight free throws in the second half. He went seven of nine from the FT line.

The Lakers had 29 attempts split nearly equally between the halves and a +16 differential, as the Wizards attempted only 13 free throws.

LeBron James gets called for Flagrant 1 shortly after allegedly furious message to refs

LeBron James’ frustrations boiled over after another no-call on Deni Avdija. He went at the Wizards forward a second time and brutally elbowed him in the face. James was initially called for an offensive foul, which turned into a Flagrant 1. Meanwhile, Avdija stayed in the game but exited later, citing migraine.

The Lakers were playing on the second night of a back-to-back. They were also getting stiff competition from the Wizards, who didn’t let the Lakers have an easy night after connecting on 18 of 42 3-pointers. James was seemingly annoyed because of these factors.

Nevertheless, LeBron James and the Lakers got it together and held things down for the rest of the game. James had 25 points, seven rebounds, nine assists and three steals on 50.0% shooting.

Meanwhile, Anthony Davis tallied 35 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks on 10 of 17 shooting. The duo came up huge down the stretch after the Wizards trimmed the Lakers’ 17-point fourth-quarter advantage to two with seven minutes left.

Davis scored six, while James had five in that stretch to give the Lakers a considerable lead and seal the win. LA improved to 44-33, which could help it significantly in its conference standings progress. The Lakers are ninth in the West, trailing the sixth seed by two games, and the seventh and eighth seeds by one.