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Bad Bunny and LeBron James share a laugh during a break in the action against the Hornets at Staples Center
Rapper Bad Bunny reminded LeBron James that JJ Barea won an NBA championship before the Los Angeles Lakers star did, during his Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday.
“Y de Barea, el que fue campeón primero que Lebron,” Bunny said during one of his songs, which translates to “And Barea, the one who became champion before LeBron.”
Bunny was referencing the 2011 NBA Finals when Barea’s Dallas Mavericks upset James’ Heat to capture their franchise-first NBA championship. The series shifted when then-Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle inserted Barea into the starting lineup in Game 4 when his team trailed 2-1 in the best-of-seven series. The move meant that Barea injected new life into the Mavs, who won three games in a row to stun the Heat.
When Barea Bothered LeBron James
James averaged just 15.1 points in Games 4, 5 and 6, incidentally the three games in which Barea was in Dallas’ starting unit. While the 5-foot-10 Barea wasn’t the primary defender on James, he made life difficult for the four-time MVP as a pesky help defender and applied pressure on the former Heat star through double teams.
In the lead-up to Game 4, Barea was told that his task was to pressure James.
“Going into Game 4, I remember coach [Carlisle said], “Hey, you’re going to start, and we’re going to put DeShawn Stevenson off the bench.” I said, “OK, I’ll be ready,” Barea recalled, via ESPN. “There was going to be some times when I have to guard bigger people like LeBron. It’s tough, but I was pretty good at guarding bigger guys away from the paint. I liked it. I knew they were going to try to bully me.”
Interestingly, Barea also felt that James lost his “confidence” after Game 4.
“When we won [Game 4], that’s when everything started to change. [James’] confidence went away, especially on offense. That’s when I really knew we had a chance.”
LeBron James Melts Down
James, who infamously scored just eight points in Game 4, has referred to the Heat versus Mavericks series as the “lowest” point of his career.
“I played like s–t,” James said of his performance in the 2011 Finals on his “Mind the Game” podcast a few years ago. “… I told myself the way I played, unacceptable.”
“Oh for sure. The lowest,” James said of where the loss ranks in his career lowlights. James averaged 17.8 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.8 assists in the six-game series.
It’s worth noting that Bad Bunny’s diss of LeBron James on Sunday isn’t out of the blue, as the words come from his 2022 song, “El Apagón,” which pays tribute to his fellow Puerto Rican, JJ Barea. While the song was written in 2022, James and Bunny have remained friends and were seen interacting at several Lakers home games in 2023.
Furthermore, James was in attendance for a Bunny concert in Puerto Rico last year, following which he showered the rapper with praise.
“It was unbelievable. I had an unbelievable time,” James said of his visit to Puerto Rico. “It was actually the opening weekend, the time I was there. Puerto Rico is a great place for me, they always welcome me and my friends and my family there, and there’s so much respect that I have for the island and everybody down there.”
James also congratulated Bad Bunny for landing the Super Bowl halftime show gig.
“I’m super happy for Bad Bunny that he’s able to represent the Super Bowl in San Francisco. That’s gonna be super dope and hopefully I could be there, man, just to support him,” James said in October.
“He’s a great friend of mine, so it was great to see that.”
Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan
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