LeBron James Angry ‘Arthur’ Post Triggers Talk Of Targeting Former Teammate, NBA Superstar Offers Explanation

NBA superstar LeBron James is at it again with his cryptic social media posts. This time, the Cleveland Cavaliers main man shared a photo from Arthur, a popular book series and educational cartoon show starring an anthropomorphic aardvark. James added a one-word caption, “Mood,” to his Monday night Instagram post.

The image shows a close-up of the clenched fist of an angry Arthur, the titular character of the children’s book and show. While the image itself may simply represent what mood LeBron James was in at the time of posting, some people are speculating that it means something else and that it’s targeting one of James’s former teammates, Kyrie Irving.

LeBron is known for sharing cryptic social media posts that seem to target his foes. Many believe that the angry Arthur post is about Irving and his trade to the Boston Celtics. LeBron “liked” a video clip of the former Cleveland point guard before posting the cryptic meme, which James did minutes after the Celtics defeated the Atlanta Hawks on Monday. LeBron and the Cavs lost to the Hawks the day before.

The Cavaliers are having a poor start to their season despite signing Dwyane Wade and getting Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder from the Irving trade. The Celtics, on the other hand, have won nine straight games with Irving leading the way.

Some have also speculated that James’s post was simply about the Cavs’ lackluster start for the new NBA season and it probably had nothing to do with Irving. LeBron is definitely not happy with the team’s 5-6 start. Despite his huge numbers, including a 57-point outburst against the Washington Wizards, LeBron and the rest of the team are still figuring out how to play together.

There are also speculations that the cryptic post was about some personal issues that LeBron is going through. James was a no-show during the team’s shootaround in their last game. People are wondering if the “personal matter” that LeBron had to attend to at the time had something to do with allegations that he is cheating on his wife, Savannah.

According to the New York Post, LeBron exchanged private messages with an Instagram model. Heidi V. Hoback, who is also an avid hunter, claims that James asked her to teach him “how to hunt.” LeBron supposedly said that he would teach her “to play ball” in return.

While LeBron has yet to address the cheating allegations, he has already gone on record to explain what he meant with the cryptic post, which did little to suppress the controversy.

“I like Arthur,” James said. “That’s OK, right?”

LeBron also shared another Instagram post, which shows four of his photos in different stages of his basketball career along with the original angry Arthur cryptic post. The new IG post included photos of James in high school and during his stops with Cleveland and the Miami Heat. All of his photos show James clenching his fists. LeBron also added the caption, “Mood forever.”

J.R. Smith, a teammate of LeBron, also tried to explain what the NBA superstar might have meant with the controversial Instagram post. Smith said that LeBron’s post had something to do with the recent Celtics-Hawks game.

“Everybody’s beating everybody.”

“Really,” Smith added. “Other than the Celtics. Who was it the other night? We lost to Orlando, beat Chicago. Chicago goes in there and beats Orlando. Everybody’s losing to everybody right now.”

Draymond Green, Golden State’s colorful forward, also recently shared a cryptic Instagram snap. This one was of himself sticking his tongue out. What made it interesting was his caption, which also read, “Mood.” People immediately suspected that Green was trolling LeBron, but the Warrior’s All-Star has already debunked this theory.

“I just thought the pic was dope and that was my mood today,” Green said through Twitter.

“I’m always the first to say when I’m going at someone… and always will. So today, my good people, y’all shot and y’all missed!”

[Featured Image by Tony Dejak/AP Images]