Washington star Kyle Kuzma brushes off Cleveland’s hypocritical ‘LeBron James’ sledge

The city of Cleveland appears to have collectively taken aim at one NBA star in a situation dripping with delicious irony.

Kuzma has been in great form. Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images

Washington Wizards NBA star Kyle Kuzma has been copping hilarious trolling from the people of Cleveland, who appear to have short memories.

Kuzma, the 26-year-old, had only played for the LA Lakers after he was picked up 27th in the 2017 NBA Draft. He was traded to the Washington Wizards in a package for Russell Westbrook prior to this season.

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While Kuzma has never been an out and out star, he’s developed a good stat line so far, having averaged 15.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists across his career so far.

But without a doubt, his biggest achievement was winning the 2020 NBA championship as an LA Laker, alongside LeBron James.

And despite being in Washington, the city of Cleveland don’t appear to be able to forget it.

LeBron is one of Cleveland’s favourite sons as the superstar from Akron, Ohio started his career for the Cavaliers.

The side made two NBA Finals in LeBron’s first six years in the NBA but he decided to go try and win a championship in Miami — where he got two in four years.

He returned to Cleveland where Steph Curry and Kevin Durant proved to be a thorn in LeBron’s side as the teams met in four straight NBA Finals, and the Cavaliers could only manage one title in 2016, still the franchise’s only title.

Kyle Kuzma isn’t even playing for the Lakers any more. Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images/AFP

LeBron was the Finals MVP in 2016, scoring back-to-back 41 point games and averaging 26.3 points per game in the series.

LeBron moved to LA in 2018-19 before winning the title in 2019-20 for the Lakers in a side featuring Kuzma.

It’s something Kuzma is proud of, featuring “NBA Champion” in his Twitter bio.

But while Cleveland owes plenty of its success to LeBron, fans and even news outlets used this against Kuzma.

Last week, Kuzma hit two clutch three pointers to beat the Cavaliers 97-94, but Cleveland locals took aim at the 26-year-old.

In the stadium at the time, Kuzma had a conversation with fans over a sign which read “Without LeBron, Kuzma wouldn’t have a ring”.

Kuzma reportedly told them they inspired him to hit the game winners.

“There was some hecklers during the game talking to me, so it was their fault, really,” Kuzma said. “They had a sign up that said ‘LeBron won Kuzma his ring,’ and I said, ‘Without ‘Bron, Cleveland wouldn’t be s***’.”

Cheeky sledge on the news. Photo: Twitter

Lots of people have LeBron to thank. Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images/AFP

Kuzma did autograph the sign but Cleveland wasn’t done.

The NBA on ESPN Twitter account shared a screenshot of Kuzma, which featured the caption “won an NBA championship thanks to LeBron James”.

But Kuzma wasn’t going to sit back and cop the hypocrisy, hitting back: “City of Cleveland we have something in common. Nice too meet you.”

City of Cleveland we have something in common 😅😭 nice too meet you https://t.co/4syPtvnKYS

— kuz (@kylekuzma) November 15, 2021

It probably helps Kuzma that he’s on the Wizards side, which currently sits top of the Eastern Conference thanks to a 10-3 record.

The Cavaliers are doing well this season as well, currently fifth in the East on a 9-6 record.

Originally published as Washington star Kyle Kuzma brushes off Cleveland’s hypocritical ‘LeBron James’ sledge