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LeBron James

Shade or nah?

Analyzing LeBron’s post-championship garb

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Cleveland Cavalier LeBron James hopped back to Cleveland, and the outfit may or may not (let’s keep it a buck, he definitely is) be sporting some shade toward the Golden State Warriors. James is seen wearing an Ultimate Warrior shirt and a Kermit the Frog sipping tea meme hat (which I want to buy low-key).

Now the question is … is James throwing shade at the Warriors? Let’s examine his attire, shall we?

Now peep the hat.

The Kermit the Frog hat is arguably the national mascot for tossing shade. For those of you not familiar with its origin, the Kermit meme emerged in 2014. The meme is often used to take a shot at someone or something and then say, “But that’s none of my business.”

James faced a lot of shade in this finals:

Is this hat shade?

No doubt. There is no mistaking James’ intentions here — this is the ultimate hater-silencing hat.

Now let’s go to the shirt.

Is this shade?

Ultimate Warrior? Warriors? Please don’t make us spell this out for you. This is a layup in the shade shot chart.

I am 99 percent certain that this is shade being thrown at the Warriors and all of his haters. However, with the Warriors actively sneak-dissing James before and during the series, James has every right to wear this outfit to send a message. Especially considering that he and his team backed up the shade they threw over the last year, as our brother Justin Tinsley chronicled earlier in the playoffs.

James proved a lot in his Game 7 win, but he has also proved another important thing.

The best shade is silent, and real Gs move in silence like lasagna.

Kofie Yeboah asks for Sweet Tea at every restaurant and recites approximately 2.5 Spongebob lines per hour.