Brian Windhorst has been covering LeBron James' basketball journey for the entirety of both of their careers. The two went to the same high school—St. Vincent-St. Mary in Akron—where Windy began his journalism profession before moving to the Cleveland Cavaliers beat in 2003, the same year James was drafted there.
In 2010, when LeBron made his move to Miami, Windhorst did the same—as he was hired by ESPN that same year to cover the Heat. Since then, the sportswriter has remained with the network, closely monitoring the NBA's all-time leading scorer.
The two know have essentially been conjoined at the hip, but that doesn't mean they know eachother well. In fact, James made a pretty pointed comment to the contrary on ESPN's The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday:
"I seen Brian Windhorst on one of these shows not too long ago," The King explained. "This guy was saying he's like my f— best friend. These guys are just weird."
"I've seen Brian Windhorst on one of these shows not too long ago... This guy says he's like my f*cking best friend. These guys are just weird."
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) March 26, 2025
LeBron James on Windy 😂
(via @PatMcAfeeShow)pic.twitter.com/q4ZxC76WyW
Harsh.
In Windhorst's defense, he did tell the SI Media Podcast with Jimmy Traina back in '22 that he and Lebron, "had messaged [in the past] but we both kind of moved on." He continued, “LeBron doesn’t have personal relationships like that with reporters. He hasn’t for a long time.”
Either way, both have made it—from the same home city—to the top of their professions. That's pretty cool.
More NBA on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as LeBron James Throws Shade at ESPN’s Brian Windhorst for Being ‘Weird’.
