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LeBron James Seemingly Caught In Lie About Attending Kobe Bryant’s Memorial Service


© Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Imagn

LeBron James has an extensive history of lying. So much so, even, that he's garnered a reputation among NBA fans for just repeatedly making up boldfaced, easily disprovable lies. Those lies, however, are often harmless and disappear within a week or so. But a new alleged lie, one surrounding his attendance of Kobe Bryant's memorial service, is the type of thing that could do serious damage to his reputation.

The newest controversy came as part of the ongoing beef between James and ESPN's Stephen A. Smith. Smith called out James for failing to attend Bryant's memorial service after the former Lakers superstar tragically passed away in a helicopter accident. Shortly afterward, however, Smith walked back the comment and issued an apology to James.

That was that. Until it wasn't. Former ESPN star Pablo Torre decided to dig a bit further into the controversy as part of his show, Pablo Torre Finds Out. What Torre found out does not cast a good light on James…

Torre investigated whether or not James attended the service. He even looked into claims James requested not to be on camera and claims that Diana Taurasi interacted with James. Both came up empty. Torre asked the lead producer of the memorial, Renato Basile, about the off-camera thing and was told "The off-camera thing is bullsh-t."

Torre claims that two other "high-level sources" involved in planning the event told him that they did not see James at the memorial and don't know of anyone who saw him in the building that day, including Lakers owner Jeanie Buss.

""There's no f–king way he was there. If he was there, he was Casper the Ghost," a personal familiar with the memorial planning said.

Now, LeBron James is not compelled to attend Kobe Bryant's memorial. It's entirely possible they were not close. It is entirely possible they were not friendly. That does not make LeBron James a bad person if he did not attend. But it does seem as if he was not there. However, he is allowing people to believe that he was there. And for that, he deserves from ire and skepticism from NBA fans.

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