Renowned sports reporters Chris Haynes and Marc Stein recently collaborated once again to release another episode of their ‘#thisleague UNCUT’ podcast.

Having recently traveled to LA on a ‘sideline duty’ for the ‘Warriors at Lakers TNT’ show, Chris Haynes herein reveals, he got a firsthand account of certain bizarre events that took place ahead of the clash, placing a special emphasis on their lead scorer LeBron James.

Discussing the Lakers, Haynes proceeded to highlight how LeBron James usually arrives at the arena for a game before anyone else.

Whether it’s a teammate, a rival player, or a coach, the Lakers star is usually the first one to be available at the scene, likely to get himself in the right head space.

When Haynes arrived at the arena four hours before the matchup, however, the same was not seen to be true.

After catching a glimpse of center Anthony Davis -whose status was ‘questionable’ for the evening- just walking around the different corners of the enclosed area, the TNT insider got worried that something must have gone down.

“I finally had to ask him like ‘Hey AD’ as he walks past me, I give him a ‘thumbs up or a thumbs down’, and he gives he a ‘thumbs down,’” Haynes revealed.

“And then he just walks away”. Haynes later got a surprising call that Anthony Davis went on to enter a car and just left the arena.

All of this happened, and LeBron James was still absent, who was also listed as questionable.

However, minds were eventually calmed down after the early bird showed up just in the nick of time.

“He happened to arrive at the arena when there was like 10 minutes left of locker room access,” said Haynes.

“Usually, LeBron, he would just go in to train in the treatment room….but he went straight to his locker stall and start putting on his uniform, putting on his clothes, so it was pretty obvious from here that he was gonna play.”  

Haynes was left bamboozled by what he came to witness, leading him to conclude with, “It was a really crazy pregame scene for me”.

The Lakers vs Warriors matchup was the last time that the two popular teams would face off during the regular season.

Tensions were high on both sides, more so, with the Lakers looking for redemption.

And the same seemed to be getting to the players. It was Chris Haynes himself who first reported that Anthony Davis had been ruled out of the matchup due to ‘headache’ and ‘nausea’.

LeBron James’ availability was questionable since he had missed the previous game due to ‘flu-like symptoms’.

Despite all that happened pre-game, LeBron managed to make himself available and went on to display his offensive prowess.

LeBron James dropped 31 points during the Warriors clash

The highly anticipated clash at the Crypto.com Arena saw LeBron James delivering an exceptional performance against Stephen Curry and Co.

With the help of other offensive players like D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves, he managed to drop a combined 60 points by the time halftime approached.

Unfortunately, the Warriors had managed to make use of Anthony Davis’ absence and were leading their rivals with their 71 points.

Despite scoring 12 points by himself during the final stage of the game, the duo of Curry and Klay Thompson did their part well in ensuring that the Lakers would never manage to close the wide gap.

USA Today via Reuters

In the end, the Warriors won by a score of 134-120. LeBron James ended the night with 33 points, 7 rebounds, and 11 assists.

Interestingly, the points he scored were his second-highest in the last 10 games.

His field goal percentage had also risen to 63.6% while his field throws were at 80%.

Now, as both the Warriors and the Lakers are heading off to the Play-In Tournament, the latter still has a chance to redeem itself.