Jonas Valanciunas took a jab at LeBron James without saying a word during a game of charades on a Lithuanian television show.
He let his actions do the talking during the appearance in his native country.
While imitating James in front of a live audience, Valanciunas first rubbed his eyes and wept, a clear shot at the Lakers superstar’s penchant for complaining about fouls. After the crowd broke into laughter the 30-year-old went a step further, floundering to the floor in an exaggerated manner in an attempt to mimic James flopping.
Valanciunas’ guesser quickly pieced together the references, correctly inferring that the 6-foot-11 center was acting out the role of James.
While Valanciunas and James have had no publicized beef with each other prior to this shot, their team’s recently exchanged blows over Twitter last week.
The Twitter feud began after the Pelicans official account was called out by user @thewhistle0 for having a Twitter banner of five active players posing at an NBA Summer League game – a stark contrast from the Lakers account’s banner, which boasts the franchise’s 17 championships. New Orleans didn’t hold back, responding “yes our players enjoy sitting next to each other rather than on opposite ends of the court.”
The reply was a direct dig at James and teammate Russell Westbrook, who were seen sitting apart from one another at an earlier Summer League Lakers’ game.
Perhaps the NBA’s newest rivalry is developing before our very eyes.