LeBron James has come under fire from an NBA legend for his pre-match decision before a Los Angeles Lakers game.
James is still playing at the age of 40 with the Lakers and has four NBA Championships to his name thanks to his career which has also included spells with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat.
James has also been named the NBA Finals MVP four times and the NBA’s overall MVP on a quartet of occasions.
And he recently also became the first player in NBA history to have multiple 40+ point matches at the age of 40 and above, surpassing the great Michael Jordan in the process.
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James and his Lakers teammates played the Houston Rockets on Friday evening, as they secured the third seed in the NBA play-offs as LA took their 50th win of the current campaign.
And what James did by warming up prior to tip-off raised eyebrows and drew criticism from an NBA Hall of Famer.
James chose to warm up for the encounter shirtless and his actions drew the ire of Isiah Thomas, who was analysing the match for NBATV.
Thomas became NBA Champion twice in 1989 and 1990 with the Detroit Pistons, whom he represented for the whole of his playing career.
He has since embarked upon a coaching career with the Indiana Pacers, the New York Knicks, FIU and Saginaw Soul.
But Thomas made it clear how poorly he viewed James’s actions and even called for the Lakers star to be fined.
Via the Daily Mail, he said: “I totally 100 per cent object to this. And if I was the GM or the coach, I would never let one of my players walk out on the floor looking like this.
“I mean we are a professional NBA league. We ain't Summer League, we ain't at the YMCA. The professionalism in our NBA league has diminished so much.
“I like LeBron, I'm a fan of his, so forth and so on. But to walk out on the floor before the game with no shirt on and shoot, where are we at? What are we doing?
“Adam Silver, if you want to fine someone, fine that.”
Topics: Lebron James, NBA, LA Lakers
John McDougall