Shirtless Photo of Lakers Star LeBron James Goes Viral

LeBron James wasn’t going to miss this year’s Super Bowl, and has his latest Instagram post as evidence of that.

James’ photo featured him watching the game live at SoFi Stadium — and had the caption: “How Super Bowl Sunday started vs How it ended!”

The first photo showed a buttoned-up James looking ready for game day, while the second photo was a bit more revealing.

Unsurprisingly, the photos quickly went viral. The comment section was filled with everyone from Kevin Hart, to Jayson Tatum and Dwayne Wade, mostly delivering crying laughing emojis.

The post from James went hand-in-hand with something he said during his time with the media on Tuesday.

“As a kid growing up, the Super Bowl and Christmas kind of went hand in hand for me, as far as excitement,” James told reporters on Tuesday. “I couldn’t sleep the night before Christmas when I was a kid and I couldn’t sleep the night before the Super Bowl.

“To drink Lobos all day, from 12 to 12, was the icing on the cake,” James added. “It was great, phenomenal.”

LeBron James Wants a Championship Parade

Watching the Rams win the Super Bowl gave James an interesting idea. He sent out a tweet after the game petitioning for a joint parade between the Lakers, Rams and Dodgers, who have all won titles since 2020.

Lakers weren’t able to take the customary parade through the city after winning the championship, so James feels that team still deserves the experience to celebrate their accomplishment.

“I already know what we missed and, more importantly, I feel bad for my teammates who won their first championship and what they missed,” James said. “The parade is like, it’s really a culmination of everything. You really get to rejoice and celebrate with the fans in a more intimate setting, so I feel bad for, like, my teammates who didn’t get the opportunity to have that feeling — I’ve done it three times.”

LeBron James Still Recovers From Knee Injury

While James was able to have some rest and fun away from the court, he now faces the reality of the task he has at hand with his 26-31 Lakers. There’s only one game left before the All-Star Break, although that doesn’t mean James will get much time off. He is tasked with being an All-Star captain for his 18th appearance in the game.

The problem for James is that he’s still recovering from a nagging knee injury, which forced him to miss five games earlier this season. Combined with last season’s ankle injury, James simply won’t be 100% for the rest of the year.

“It’s the same as my ankle,” James said. “When I had the high ankle sprain last year. I think it was last year. The only way it’ll be back to full strength is rest, and I don’t have the luxury of having rest.”