Michael Cooper, a legendary player for the Los Angeles Lakers, said that LeBron was a chump for having dinner on the bench.

Oh, the disdain with which basketball is treated.

The NBA preseason is widely ignored because hardly one, not even the grizzled veterans, treats it as anything more than a warmup for the real thing, the regular season. Complete understanding.

The great LeBron James exemplifies this principle. After all, at age 38, he led the Los Angeles Lakers to the Western Conference Finals while averaging 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 6.8 assists per game, plus he’s a four-time NBA champion and 21-year NBA veteran.

There’s certainly no shame in the “King” taking some time off, but his antics in the most recent game were demeaning to basketball as a whole. A former NBA superstar who starred for the Lakers shares my opinion on this.

After scoring 12 points in the first half of Friday’s preseason game against the Golden State Warriors, LeBron James changed into street clothes and sat on the bench for the rest of the game. NBA players typically eat before games, but not all of them go to the extent that LeBron did. It was clear that he had a full meal in front of him. Similar to “The Top 25 College Basketball Teams in the Preseason” The two best teams are from power conferences: Kansas and Duke.

Former NBA player and five-time Lakers champion Michael Cooper was not happy.

That troubled me to no end. In a recent episode of his podcast, “Showtime with Coop,” Cooper said, “Again, he’s LeBron James, but still, you’ve got to have respect for the game, man.” I have no problem with him eating, but he needs to do it in the locker room before coming out to watch the game with the rest of the team.

The following videos show LeBron sitting on the bench and pouting while he eats: