{"id":698719,"date":"2026-04-05T00:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T00:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/698719\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T00:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T00:16:16","slug":"lebron-james-memphis-beef-explained-why-nba-stars-appearance-on-youtube-show-rubbed-grizzlies-fans-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/698719\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James-Memphis beef, explained: Why NBA star’s appearance on YouTube show rubbed Grizzlies fans wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

LeBron James-Memphis beef, explained: Why NBA star’s appearance on YouTube show rubbed Grizzlies fans wrong<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

LeBron James has shared some insight into one NBA city he isn\u2019t much of a fan of:<\/p>\n

Memphis.<\/p>\n

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The Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> star, in a recent appearance on the “Bob Does Sports” YouTube show, took some digs at the home of the Grizzlies<\/a>. He clarified that it wasn\u2019t about the people who live in Memphis, but rather the travel aspect of going to the city as an NBA player, also listing Milwaukee as an unfavorable destination.<\/p>\n

James\u2019 comments received some criticism, especially from those close to Memphis \u2014 including the city\u2019s mayor.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what James said about Memphis, how he responded to the backlash and more.<\/p>\n

SN’s NBA HQ:\u00a0Live NBA scores<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Updated NBA standings<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Full NBA schedule<\/a><\/p>\n

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LeBron James-City of Memphis beef, explained<\/p>\n

James recently had a rare in-depth media appearance on the YouTube show “Bob Does Sports,”<\/a> where he\u00a0was asked about traveling in the NBA at the age of 41 and a longtime star. James’ response specifically targeted Memphis and Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

\u201cA random f—ing Tuesday in Milwaukee,\u201d James said. \u201cStaying at the f—ing Hyatt at 41 years old. You think I want to do that s—? Being in Memphis on a f—ing random a– Thursday? I\u2019m not like the first guy to even talk about it in the NBA.”<\/p>\n

James, who said he might have “not showed up” if he was drafted by the Grizzlies in 2003, also suggested that the team shouldn’t be in Memphis and should be relocated to Nashville, Tennessee.<\/p>\n

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“[NBA players are] all like, \u2018You guys have to move. Go over to Nashville.\u2019 You got Vanderbilt over there,” James said. “You got NASCAR. You got a stadium. Don\u2019t they got a hockey team, too?\u201d<\/p>\n

Those comments from the NBA legend were not taken kindly from some people close to Memphis.<\/p>\n

Grizzlies coach Tuomas Iisalo was one of the NBA figures who pushed back on the Memphis crticism.<\/p>\n

“I can say from my own perspective that I have the complete opposite, 180-degree perspective on that,” Iisalo said, per ESPN<\/a>. “The Memphis where we have arrived less than two years ago has been very warm. Very welcoming.”<\/p>\n

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Raptors<\/a> head coach Darko Rajakovic, who was an assistant in Memphis before taking over as head coach in Toronto, also spoke on James’ comments.<\/p>\n

“I don’t care what the rest of the world thinks. I love the people of Memphis,” Rajakovic said, per ESPN<\/a>. “I love the food. I love every single time I come over here.”<\/p>\n

Additionally, the mayor of Memphis,\u00a0Paul Young, responded to James’ criticism by inviting the Lakers star to the city. In a Facebook post<\/a> that also highlighted Stephen A. Smith and Kendrick Perkins’ debate on “First Take” about James’ words about Memphis, Young said he would show James the “culture and powerful investment opportunities” of Memphis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would welcome the chance to turn your criticism into action in one of the most important cities in the world,\u201d Young wrote. \u201cCome to Memphis and roll around with me for a bit, and I will show you some of the culture and powerful investment opportunities in our City.\u00a0Let\u2019s do something epic in one of the largest majority Black cities in the nation!”<\/p>\n

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MORE: How will Luka Doncic’s injury will affect the Lakers, NBA playoff picture and more<\/a><\/p>\n

What is Bob Does Sports?<\/p>\n

Bob Does Sports is a YouTube gold channel that follows Robby Berger (Bobby Fairways) and his friends Nick Stubbe (Fat Perez) and Joseph Demare (Joey Coldcuts), with over one million subscribers on the platform.<\/p>\n

The account has had athletes featured in the past, including\u00a0Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, Seattle Seahawks QB Sam Darnold and Bills QB Kyle Allen in 2024.<\/p>\n

On Apr. 2, a video featuring James playing a round of golf was released by the account.<\/p>\n

MORE:The best moments from LeBron James’ “Bob Does Sports” appearance<\/a><\/p>\n

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LeBron James comments on backlash<\/p>\n

On Saturday, James was asked a follow-up question about his Memphis comments. He made sure to point out that he had also mentioned Milwaukee as a difficult travel spot in the NBA, clarifying that he wasn\u2019t speaking about the people in either city, but simply that those are two places he does not enjoy playing in.<\/p>\n

\u201cMilwaukee was, too. Did they miss that one, too? They didn\u2019t see that?\u201d James said. \u201c41 years old, it\u2019s two cities I do not like playing in right now. That\u2019s Milwaukee, and that\u2019s Memphis. What is the problem?\u201d<\/p>\n

James also went as far to say that he’d include Cleveland on his list of unfavorable traveling destinations, “and I’m from there.”<\/p>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t like going home either \u2026 and I\u2019m from there,\u201d James said. \u201cPeople are ridiculous. They also get mad at my son being on the [Lakers], too. So what are we talking about? People need to figure out other ways to put their energy to other things that\u2019s important. Like seriously? I\u2019m not talking about the city, like the people in Memphis. I don\u2019t like staying at the Hyatt Centric. What\u2019s wrong with that? Nothing! What are we talking about? \u2026 People need to chill the hell out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Memphis Grizzlies attendance numbers<\/p>\n

According to ESPN,<\/a> the Grizzlies rank 29th among the 30 NBA teams in total attendance for the 2025-26 season so far, with\u00a0615,489 fans in total.<\/p>\n

The Grizzlies, currently the only major professional sports team in the city of Memphis, were originally established in Vancouver, Canada, in 1995. The franchise moved to Memphis after the 2000-01 season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James-Memphis beef, explained: Why NBA star’s appearance on YouTube show rubbed Grizzlies fans wrong originally appeared on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3795],"tags":[7,2017,294,2058,185,150,368,293,177,4070,102,6,25089,9722,181,680,3263],"class_list":{"0":"post-698719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-memphis-grizzlies","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-buffalo-bills","10":"tag-grizzlies","11":"tag-kendrick-perkins","12":"tag-lebron-james","13":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","14":"tag-luka-doncic","15":"tag-memphis","16":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","17":"tag-memphisgrizzlies","18":"tag-milwaukee","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-sam-darnold","21":"tag-seattle-seahawks","22":"tag-the-grizzlies","23":"tag-toronto","24":"tag-youtube"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116349225189663072","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}