JJ Redick postgame - “LeBron has the worst whistle of any star player I’ve ever seen”
Lebron’s whistle retired before him
Whistle never lived up to the hype
Lebron’s biggest weakness as a player is his whistle lmao
His biggest weakness is trying to play basketball the right way and finishing through contact. Because he’s so strong he tried to get the best shot through the contact instead of flailing once he feels it.
LeBron had his flopping era, don’t get it twisted. But, the NBA had some damn shame at that time so it wasn’t nearly as successful as the Harden/Shai NBA of the last 7-8 years.
Barely, that was crazy exaggerated. Prime LeBron got hacked all the time and was whistled like Shaq His average FTA in Miami, when the flop allegations were at their peak, was under 8. He got hacked on a lot more than 4 shots per game
The flopping stuff is as ridiculous as the not clutch narrative people tried to create
My man
He gets punished for being strong. It’s bullshit
It is bullshit, and it happens to every strong player. Once a dude gets a reputation for being big and strong, players can go at them more relentlessly without getting called as often because the referees expect the big man to be able to play through the contact.
Steven Adams was literally just talking about this in a recent interview.
Whistle wasn’t the Chosen-1.
Father time 1-1 with LeBron
Father Time best wear the same shoes
The amount of times I’ve seen his head almost get decapitated with no foul call is insane especially in his lakers tenure.
Refs making sure Father Time has a chance but sadly Father Time is down 30 with the 4q to go.
While SGA out there with all the whistles
Lepfffffffffffff
Bron has 4 FTAs so far this series
I had to check and make sure you weren’t lying. Holy shit.
While being primarily covered by Lugentz the Evil
The Dorture chamber
Lugentz the Evil is diabolical
JFC
WTF this guy gets hacked every layup he makes wtfffff
Because in today’s NBA everyone needs to flail to get calls, players need to have acting skills which is total crap
Yeah its either act like a hoe or you’ll be treated like one by the refs.
Ironic he gets called LeFlop by dumbass haters because he actually hardly does compared to how much he is fouled without calls
Dude was pretty bad for it in his prime. If you wanna say now I’d agree he doesn’t do it much anymore.
He’s really bad at flopping, so some were really obvious exaggerations (though they were also generally still fouls anyways)
But no, in terms of volume, it really wasn’t that significant and his entire Miami stint he averaged less than 8 FTA while getting hacked a hell of a lot more than 4 times a game
Borderline unwatchable honestly. What happened to the game I love
IMAGINE LEBRON WITH MJ’S WHISTLE.
He would average 30 if he had Wizard MJ’s whistle
40
MJ is paying the refs
Jesus that’s insane
it’s so fucked lol
Truly unreal
That’s diabolical
LeBron needs to learn how to be SGA. Just flail the fuck in every drive. Anyway, fans love that shit. That’s what NBA is trying to sell us. right?
He said at one point he’s too old for that shit.
unreal lmao
No wonder he was about to rip that ref’s head off after he didn’t get that foul call.
Just looked it up Holy shit that’s crazy, thought u were joking
LeBron and Steph post peak years both have had terrible whistles
Steph’s entire career*
Off ball players always have low FT rates because refs are unironically ball-watchers
The reason why Draymond gets away with illegal screens is the same reason why Steph doesn’t get more free throws you can basically tackle people off the ball and not get called for it
This is a big part of OKC’s defensive strategy too the moment a star player gives the ball up they have to fight through the entire OKC team to ever get it back
Draymond or GSW doesn’t get away with illegal screens any more than other aggressive defenders on any other team. The entire GSW setting illegal screens is a common myth that came about during their 2015 run as an anti-‘GSW is changing the game’ talking point. There is no reason to substantiate the claim that the Warriors or Draymond or Bogut were egrigeous illegal screen setters.
Thank you. I get downvoted all day for saying the same thing
Just depends on how the circlejerk is swinging on any given day XD
good screeners are illegal screeners.
If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying
There’s also a level of complete incompetence that the only explanation for it is that there’s something going on. If you have time watch the last 10 seconds of Suns @ Warriors on Dec 20, 2025. Steph gets inbounded the ball, intentionally fouled by 2 players where literally everybody in the arena and everybody watching knows the Suns are trying to foul him and there’s no call. Even the Suns players are yelling at the ref that they fouled him.
This is some interesting and completely incorrect cope.
Which is weird considering they’re the two biggest profit drivers in the NBA. Is it just how they sell contact?
It’s absolutely about “selling” the whistle. Older players aren’t going to throw themselves on the ground for a chance at a whistle, best they can do is flail their arms.
This is it. The refs 100% award for going to the floor. And if you watch OKC they have a player on the floor almost every possession. They have no choice but to call a foul
Well, they do have a choice lol.
Joel Embiid would like a word
Joel isn’t old, just his knees are
Embiid isn’t really old, his knees just makes it look like it.
Steph never had a whistle he got fouled off ball 40 times a game for his entire prime (the warriors also set 40 illegal screens in those games)
Yeah, 100% agree. Why not just make the calls so Draymond don’t feel the need to set illegal screens on every play to make up for the disadvantage? Fix the root of the problem, not add layers of “he said she said” to it.
Steph’s whistle is so bad; it’s almost hard to believe. The non-calls with the off-ball grabbing AND all the hacks on his drives to the rim are insane. Lebron’s is terrible, but Steph’s is arguably even worse.
Watching Steph in the series against the rockets the other year pissed me off lol, they were playing him like a damn NFL linemen 😂
Lakers fan here: I don’t think anything tops how bad Steph’s whistle has been this year… It’s outrageous to the point where I’m concerned for his health sometimes. It’s like the anti-superstar whistle.
LeBron’s is nothing compared to SGAs, but like a regular guy whistle at least lol
Steph and Bron lack of whistles is 1A 1B.
No?? Lebron’s is not a regular guy whistle. They are missing so many and 1s for him since he came to the lakers. His whistle is shit
LeBron has not averaged above 8 FTAs/game since he was 25…… he’s 41 right now.
The argument that their shit whistles is to somehow “make up” for LA’s free throw differential or Draymonds antics/GSW’s questionable screening practices has made me so mad over the past few years.
Just officiate the game properly, legislate out over exaggeration of contact, and you won’t have to “make up” for anything
It’s like they came just before the generation of players that truly mastered the art of flopping and foul baiting. Dudes SGA’s age must’ve been practicing this shit in HS.
People having a very hard time making the distinction between LeBron specifically and the Lakers with this comment
The Lakers do lead the league in FT shooting, Luka/AR absolutely have a favorable whistle and if you want to complain about that go ahead but he’s absolutely right LeBron has a god awful whistle only rivaled by Steph and it has been this way for a decade straight.
You’re in the wrong place if you expect people to recognize that multiple things can be true at once and aren’t mutually exclusive
Multiple things can be true at once and aren’t mutually exclusive
You don’t belong here
I’m inserting myself here as a nuggets fan but it is absolutely infiruiating watching another team get an obviously biased whistle. It’s been like slightly better for Jokic in the last year or two, but historically he has suffered similar to Curry and Lebron are now.
I love the NBA so damn much but it is the most lopsided and biased league in the US, and it’s not close.
I mean for fucks sake, the MLB installed the pitch call review this year and it has EXPOSED umpires for being either biased or garbage or both. And it’s high fucking time the NBA takes a look at their referee pool and assesses in a similar way
Bro stop putting Jokic in these conversations. It’s disgusting.
His whistle is completely fine.
Honestly man over the years it absolutely wasn’t.
I even acknowledged that it is indeed better now. But I empathize because it ABSOLUTELY WASNT THE CASE for years of his career. Just let me know if you want me to find receipts and I’d be fucking happy to.
Man used to get mauled with no calls before the MVPS . I remember a few pictures of his arms after games just completely torn up .
Not even a nuggets fan.
Jokic gets hit a lot. That’s why he’s been flopping more to sell calls. He has a pretty bad whistle compared to someone like embiid
Jokic punched somebody in the face in the 2024 postseason and they overturned the call
They need to instill a FLOP check or something where they’ve got guys reviewing real-time.
and have a 4th ref out there that’s listening to it, if a player flops, their call gets overturned and its 2 free throw attemps the other way.
Would stop players from doing the dumbest shit
Add ant to the list and you’re absolutely right
Ant will have the worst whistle in the league once Steph and Bron retire
Steph and Julius Randle actually. He gets mugged on almost every drive and never gets calls it’s actually crazy
Randle and LeBron kinda make sense. Don’t forget that OKC pulled out some UFC moves against Jokic last year in Game 7. It’s ok because it was small dudes doing it. Shaq used to also deal with this stuff.
I still think the Steph stuff was insane. As a bona fide hater I thought it was only fair for all of Draymond’s illegal screens setting Steph up for open 3s, but it was genuinely bizarre to see Steph get hit on layups, fall to the ground, and still get no call.
I haven’t seen an NBA playoffs with more ref and whistle talk than this in a long time
Sad part is most of it is justified
OKC min maxes fouls. They got the depth and defenders too. I gotta say it’s smart. They literally have 4 Smarts on that team doing dirty shit.
It’s because it’s unwatchable.
It’s like they forgot how.
It used to be that if the NBA wanted to extend a series or something they would do like what they did in game 5 of GSW versus Cleveland and you get 1-2 really horribly reffed games and then a Game 7.
It’s one thing to do that here and there. Now it just feels so common place and it’s ruining the watchability.
Well you know what else has become common place? Gambling
Yeah, the gambling is probably the real Darth Sidious beneath this.
Its OKC vs the Lakers. What do you expect? Lol
LeBron has 5 FTs this SERIES, seems reasonable to mention
Imagine if we talked about the mob ties and the gambling stuff associated with it.
Good. It’s about time we reached the boiling point. Get all these garbage refs out of here and come in with new blood and new rules.
Theyve been ruining games for far too long
There was 21 total free throws in game 1, and flopping was 80% of the conversation coming out of it. It’s ridiculous.
I wonder why… Also this game 2 was fucking horribly officiated. Game 1 was ehh cause even though your team was flopping all around they weren’t rewarded for it. Also Lebron with 1 free throw while living in the paint against your physical defense in game 1 was a load of bullshit.
With how much he goes to the paint he only shoots 4 free throws, only two fouls?🤦
Edit: God, it’s even worst! he only shoots 5 free throws in the entire 2 games :/
Well he doesn’t flop as much as you know who
idk what Voldemort has to do with this
Voldemort is top 5 in FTA this season
flair?!
nah deadass the irony is impeccable
I think it’s intentional big dog
Some of us are self aware unlike you.
You’re allowed to say SGA’s name out loud.
Hahahahhahahahshshhshahahahhahahhaa Ur funny but fuck okc
He’s not wearing the OKC jersey
LeBron’s whistle since he got to LA has been hilariously bad
He gets penalized for being strong
Kinda like Kawhi
Refs just expect them to take abuse that normally would be called because they’ve been very strong for their positions for a long time
Kawhi gets a pretty generous whistle lol. Weird comparison
Bro literally gets away with salary cap sidestepping. Clearly the most generous whistle in the game lol.
I don’t think Kawhi is a crazy FT merchant but he gets away with a lot of push-offs
That’s not unique to Kawhi that’s common league wide
the worst part is giannis somehow gets 10+ being even more reckless and bigger lol
Giannis gets hacked every drive with or without whistle. They basically just coinflip.
This is what it is. I’ve heard a player say in the post game their gameplan is ‘foul lebron when you can’ not because he can’t make a free throw, but because they tend to ignore the contact.
Still remember that one no call on Tatum on the game winning lay up against Boston. Shit was ridiculous, his whistle in LA is HORRIBLE
His whistle since he joined the Heat has been bad lol
It’s been bad since he went to Miami
You’d think a 41 year old is able to take less abuse in the paint than someone who is 25.
I’ll go Steph and I don’t think it’s particularly close but LeBron is way up there too.
I’ll go Zion. Ignore my flair.
We’re talking about star players, not players the size of stars
Lol. He had a good season this year.
Steph Curry would like a word…
literally
Steph would like a word JJ
Didn’t Korver say something like this when he played with LeBron in 2018? Like thinking he had a good whistle beforehand and then being dumbfounded by how little respect he actually got from refs?
I remember this comment exactly.
Laughs in Steph Curry
Steph curry would like a word
Luka and Reaves have elite whistles though
Luka during playoffs unironically doesn’t.
I mean he hasn’t gotten a single free throw all playoffs thus far!
Stats don’t lie. Luka has gotten a terrible whistle this series.
Despite that, I’m disappointed in his lack of aggressiveness just because he hasn’t gotten a whistle. If he’s gonna play like that he should just sit on the bench.
Proves the point that refs reward foul baiting more than actual fouls
Luka was talking about how shit Brons whistle is earlier in the season its funny
How the NBA is ok with this reffing is beyond me. It’s almost comical to watch the officiating.
At this point you have to believe the NBA wants this.
Yeah refs didnt give him shit. I can admit that was bad reffing towards him specifically.
Thanks being impartial in your assessment. It’s the inconsistent calls across players
Bro had to qualify his statement and say the reffing was bad specifically on bron and youre applauding his impartial analysis 😭
Truly very brave admission wow
Yeah no my bad. Ayton Reeves and Rui were getting bitch slapped openly tonight and refs put the blind folds on. Infact, even Laravia was decimated out there.
Someone needs to post a compilation of Chet’s whistle tonight compared to LeBron. The level of contact LeBron is enduring without calls compared to the numerous calls Chet got is indefensible. I don’t understand how people can avoid this if you’re watching the games. It’s blatant.
And I compare the two because this is specifically about calls around the rim.
Watching Chet crumple on every hint of contact because he weighs 120 lbs is absolutely infuriating. You’re 7 feet tall, get your bitch ass up.
Nah, Curry.
Has he not seen Steph
JJ never seen Steph play?
League minimum 50k fine
Thunder fans still crying foul after the game is over
most insufferable fan base.
He is not touching Curry’s place on that podium lmfao.
Steph staring off into the distance
Curry is worse but ok
Curry exists.
Steph Curry just felt a profound disturbance in the Force.
He must have forgot to watch Steph Curry
Maybe this series, but Steph has had the worst whistle by far for his entire damn career
Steph curry has entered the chat
jj’s not even wrong here, bron drives like giannis and sga but gets offiiciated like a jump shooter now, it’s wild how he has a worse whitsle this late in his career.
Steph would like a word
It’s between him and Curry for sure. It’s bizzare.
Jaylen Brown about to call JJ Reddick
ummm has he seen STEPHS???
Steph Curry would like a word
Curry?? The gap between the person w the worst whistle and the second worst whistle is enormous
not worse than steph’s 😂
Steph literally exists, JJ
It’s like he never heard of Steph Curry.
LOL, this LeBron has a shit whistle narrative is hilarious. LeBron should be rewarded for shoving smaller guys out of the way and hip checking mfs on screens!!! Plus they never T his ass up and he’s crying literally all game.
Him and Steph’s whistle has been terrible
steph’s have been bad his whole career tho 😭
Laughing in Steph curry rn
Steph is the most disrespected imo
Steph has the worst whistle. I’ve seen games where the opposing team told the ref they were about to foul him, did so right in front of the same ref, and the ref didn’t call it.
But yes, LeBron is definitely getting a VERY shitty whistle this series.
Steph Curry says hi!
Watch one Steph game before saying this
Not when he was dominating the east, watching those raptor pacer Celtic series he got quite a favourable whistle
S T O P T H E C A P
OKC’s backup point guard is getting a better whistle than LeBron James.
Redick said the quiet part out loud, that’s my coach
Press X to doubt.
That’s the entire issue with OKC - it’s that Caruso/Dort are allowed to get as physical on one end but teams can’t even breathe on SGA on the other
Nuggets had the same issue last season in the playoffs where they let them know early in the series that it was okay to hack at Jokic because they’re smaller
The power of the OKC/ref tandem has no limits
Tonight fouls 26-21
Did anyone see that non-continuation call? It was egregious. He’s dribbling and then picks up his dribble and is in the process of taking his first of 2 steps into what appears to be a long range fader/floater. He is fouled after fully taking a step without dribbling and then shoots the ball and laces it. It’s called an on the ground foul and he doesn’t get the points or any fts out of it. However, Austin Reaves does get a foul call on a ft and goes 1⁄3 from the line the very next play so it can’t be all blamed on the refs.
And Austin Reaves easily makes up for it.
JJ would lose his mind coaching Steph
LeBron spent 20 years flopping. Refs are tired of the boy who cried wolf
Oh, again with the whistle
lol, never close to Curry, even the most untouchable one in history.
LeBron has shot 5 free throws in 2 games by the way, cutting and driving is most of his playstyle too.
It’s Steph for sure. LeBron has a bad whistle bc Reaves and Luka get every call.
Steph Curry has entered the chat..
Guess he never saw Shaq play