Analyzing LeBron James’ Social Media Actions

Analyzing LeBron James’ Social Media Actions

LeBron James is at another pivotal point in his career, one which will once again have a lasting impact on his legacy as an NBA player. And while James’ time on the court with the Cleveland Cavaliers has had its ups and downs, people are worried that a failure to win a championship this year will result in him leaving the team for a second time. James did not calm those concerns when he recently made a very curious decision on social media regarding the team, one that everyone has decided to put way too much thought into.

LeBron James Unfollows Cleveland Cavaliers

One of the most followed athletes on social media, LeBron James draws a lot of attention for everything he does on the Internet. That is why some eyebrows were raised when it was discovered that James recently unfollowed the Cleveland Cavaliers on Twitter, as many wanted to know what his reason was for unsubscribing from his own team’s feed. Of course, none of this matters at all when the team’s play on the court is what is important, but in 2016 people actually care about these things.

Theories as to why James chose to unfollow the Cavaliers included his desire to switch teams at the end of the season, as well as James going through his annual end of season social media blackout. LeBron claims that he unfollowed the team to gear up for the playoffs, where he cuts off all access to social media until his team is finished playing for the season, but that wouldn’t make sense as an explanation as you don’t need to unfollow your team in order to not use Twitter. So is there something else going on here that would cause LeBron James to unfollow his team?

Explaining LeBron James’ Actions

As far as an explanation for LeBron James unfollowing the Cleveland Cavaliers on social media is concerned, the answer is not as exciting as many are hoping for. He isn’t doing to as a sign that he wants to leave the team, but could have simply done it because he was tired of seeing the team’s updates. Since he is a member of the team, and probably the most visible one at that, he probably doesn’t need to be shown what he already knows about his own team online.

If LeBron James were to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers in the offseason, something that is considered to be highly unlikely by anyone covering the NBA, he would do so whether he was following the team on social media or not. He did it when he left Cleveland to join the Miami Heat and won multiple championships with the help of Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, and he didn’t give some cryptic clue on social media before doing so.

This is the climate we live in during the social media era. Star athletes have their every move analyzed both on the court and on the web, to the point that the mere decision to subscribe to updates from one user results in days of speculative coverage and overreaction. Everyone should just wait and see what LeBron James decides to do, rather than make a mountain out of a mole hill.

By: Jason M. Sanin