Lance Stephenson was one of the NBA’s premier instigators during his time in Indiana. The Pacers forward was often tasked with defending and disrupting the opposing team’s best wings. His greatest challenge — and one he and the Pacers never quite conquered — was dealing with LeBron James and the Big 3 era Miami Heat.
Stephenson tried everything he could think of to get James off of his game, and that included a moment that became an iconic meme and one of the defining moments of Stephenson’s career: when he leaned over and blew in LeBron’s ear. It was the perfect encapsulation of Stephenson’s antics, trying anything he could to mess with an opponent.
More than a decade later, Stephenson explained why he regrets the move, not because of anything involving LeBron, but instead for what it led to in a hysterical interaction with a LeBron fan in the club one night.
“I ain’t gon’ lie, yo, I regret it sometimes,” Stephenson said. “Because, I was at a club, right? So I came in the club late, I didn’t get no section — I didn’t wanna waste no money — so I go to the bar and some drunk dude come and [blows]. I’m like, ‘Yo! What the — you crazy boy?!” [And he says] ‘That’s how LeBron felt, how you like that?!'” I was about to go ham, bro. Like the hard spit blow. I was about to go crazy on him.”
It’s an incredibly funny story, and if anything, it’s surprising this hasn’t happened more often to Stephenson because it truly became the indelible moment from his career, and LeBron has some wild fans out there.
Those Pacers teams of the early 2010s were incredible, but unfortunately they were in the same conference as an all-time team led by LeBron at the peak of his powers. As such, they’re now mostly known as a punchline for a bad photoshoot and Stephenson blowing in LeBron’s ear rather than being the team that pushed the Heat to the brink a couple times in the conference finals.
