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LeBron James brutally posterized his good friend and former teammate Kevin Love in his return to Cleveland, where the Lakers topped the Cavs 131-120 on Monday night.
James put the hammer down on Love in the second quarter, when he caught a pass from Austin Reaves for a one-handed slam to tie the game at 60 apiece.
Love braced for the charge and flew back, sliding out of bounds while the crowd roared. He later returned the favor by putting James in a headlock as the two laughed together.
“He choked the [s–t] out of me!!” James wrote on his Instagram story afterwards.
Love was a good sport about the monster dunk. He later joked on Twitter, “I’m not f–king with my guy @KingJames for atleast the next 48hrs!!!!”
James replied with an emotional meme that read, “I am so sorry,” with the caption, “Forgive Me!”
After James posted a triple-double, he addressed the dunk with Spectrum SportsNet, saying, “When I turned that corner and I looked up I was like, ‘No please Kev, just move.’ I hate it because he should know once when I get that go-go-gadget calf muscle and I get going then, I’m gonna take off.”
James later told reporters that he hopes to still be invited to Love’s upcoming wedding. The Cleveland big man proposed to his model girlfriend, Kate Bock, in January.
“Once I got the bounce pass and I put my left leg down into the ground, that’s when I looked up,” James said. “To be completely honest, I hate that it had to be him. He’s my guy, that’s my brother. And hope I’m still invited to the wedding.
“That’s not even in my all-time dunks, so I guess I’ll take it out. I didn’t mean it, K-Love. I love you and I take it back. I wish I could take those two points back and we still win the game by nine.”
James and Love met on the floor before the game to recreate their old handshake from heir Cavaliers days. They won a championship together in 2016, in a 4-3 series against the Warriors.
Love put up eight points, six rebounds and four assists in the Cavs’ loss. James recorded a triple-double with 38 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists, and currently leads the league in scoring.
The Lakers (31-41) are in the 10th spot in the Western Conference just three weeks away from the start of the play-in tournament, which takes place from April 12-15.
The NBA playoffs begin April 16.
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