Twitter went crazy yesterday when it was revealed that LeBron James unfollowed the Cleveland Cavaliers. There’s already been speculation that he might take his talents elsewhere again after numerous cryptic tweets and the extra time he’s been spending in Miami. The latest move added fuel to the fire and of course he was asked about it after the Cavaliers 124-91 win over the Nuggets last night.
LeBron however declined to answer the question and instead said “Next question”. He was then asked a real basketball question and declined to answer that as well, saying he’s done and abruptly ending the interview.
LEBRON NOOOO WHAT ARE YOU DOING pic.twitter.com/gjfSiLB5p4
— Tom (@TJFsports) March 22, 2016
Cleveland.com published an article giving an explanation for why LeBron unfollowed the Cavs according to a “source” but fans aren’t buying it.
According to a source close to James who discussed the matter with him Monday night, that’s not why James unfollowed the Cavs. He did it as part of his process to prepare for the playoffs.
There is precedence for this. James puts away all forms of social media once the playoffs begin, to cut all distractions and sharpen his own focus on the task ahead. He calls it Zero Dark 23. He did it last year.
James’ unfollowing of the Cavs was sort of a preamble, the source said. He’s starting to pare down some of the “noise” without shutting off his account entirely.
In all, James unfollowed 14 accounts recently – he’s down to 153 from 167. According to the source close to James, most were NBA media types and basketball-related accounts.
We’re all familiar with LeBron’s Zero Dark 23 before playoffs but he usually stays off social media completely, not unfollow people. If you use Twitter you know simply unfollowing people doesn’t eliminate the noise; retweets and discussions will make it back to your timeline. But if that’s what they’re going with cool; it just occurred to me that an unfollow became a major story given too much time.
