In early December, the NBA made headlines when the legendary LeBron James got into it with rival head coach Ime Udoka of the Houston Rockets, leading to Udoka’s ejection.
A video from a fan sitting courtside made the rounds, and because James and Udoka’s interaction lasted several minutes, broadcast cameras picked up much of it as well. But the key phrase that got sports media whipped into a frenzy was Udoka calling James a “b****” and James taking issue with it.
That snippet came not from the Lakers or Rockets broadcast but a smallish account on X that posted a video very roughly transcribed with the word “LEAKED” in all caps at the start of its caption. The video quickly piled up 15 million impressions.
Later, “LegendZ” celebrated the virality of their own video with a post on the account.
Stephen A. Smith & Shannon Sharpe talked about my LeBron/Udoka audio clip today🤯
Would’ve never thought that I’ll be in this position, appreciate y’all fr! pic.twitter.com/IVqzrmcwG7
— LegendZ (@legendz_nba) December 5, 2023
On YouTube, a channel called LegendZ Productions posted a longer version with the same funky format. As James gets back on defense, the video slows to a drone at which point viewers are supposed to hear James say, “travel,” as suggested by the video’s on-screen captions. Later, as the official ejects Udoka, the video moves in real time with extensive captions showing Udoka cursing at and browbeating James. Nearly 300,000 people have watched it on YouTube.
This is the LegendZ Productions way.
On X, the account’s bio reads “Professional Lip Reader.” Each video is roughly the same.
The person behind the channel quickly summarizes whatever beef or drama is being chronicled before diving into the footage. Occasionally videos will include clips from podcasts or interviews to drive the gossip and set the stage for the big reveal. The footage is compiled from social media and game broadcasts, edited together rapidly with large captions leading the viewer on with what was said.
Each video title begins the same way: “LEAKED” or “UNSEEN.”
But there’s no indication any leaking is happening. What LegendZ Productions does is hardly a reasonable TMZ ripoff, let alone reporting.
As the X bio states, the only value-add that LegendZ provides is the purported lip reading.
While not every LegendZ video stretches its transcriptions, certainly many appear to take liberties. Often, a player or coach’s face appears for a second or two in poor quality when they are supposedly saying something juicy. Sometimes, the players’ mouths are facing away from camera while they speak.
In this video documenting an argument between Klay Thompson and Devin Booker last season, LegendZ lists both players plus Warriors forward Draymond Green saying entire sentences that are unintelligible from the video on-screen.
A more egregious example also includes Golden State and comes from the channel’s most-watched video, with 3.5 million clicks on YouTube.
In the video, which came from a Warriors playoff game last spring, typically quiet franchise centerpiece Steph Curry supposedly tells young teammate Jordan Poole that Poole is “not f***ing helping” by rejecting Green’s communication in the huddle.
But despite large white captions and slowed-down footage, it’s impossible to confirm Curry said this from the video.
Just this week, LegendZ posted a video from the NBA Cup in which Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell and Indiana Pacers guard Bruce Brown toss profanities back and forth. While the two made their disagreement public in postgame press conferences, no reasonable person watching LegendZ’s video can make out either of their words from the video posted to X.
Still, it is at 4.6 million impressions and growing.
LEAKED Audio Of D’Angelo Russell Trash Talking Bruce Brown👀:
Russell: “N**** talk too much”
Brown: “I can talk, swept y’all a** last year”
Russell: “Walk your a** down”
Brown: “Watch when I come back”
Russell: “Come back and shoot them out of the game” pic.twitter.com/1iTkjFGEaw
— LegendZ (@legendz_nba) December 10, 2023
While the content may be suspicious, followers eat it up. It’s difficult to find even one skeptic in the comment section. LegendZ is the NBA gossip rag for the modern fan, and these fans are glad to accept the framing LegendZ gives them.
According to the YouTube-certified internet analytics website Social Blade, the monetized LegendZ Productions channel could be making as much as $53,000 per year from ads on the platform. During the offseason, LegendZ began posting compendiums of “NBA players talking s***” and watched hundreds of thousands of views come in.
One particularly nasty video aims to prove that NBA star Jimmy Butler slept with an ESPN personality in the NBA Bubble back in 2020.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver once said the athletes in his league were in an “age of anxiety” due in part to social media. Sharpshooter turned analyst JJ Redick deactivated his social media accounts in 2019 because “it’s just this cycle of anger and validation and tribalism.”
There’s no one genesis of NBA players’ discontentment. They (like all athletes) are picked apart endlessly in articles, podcasts and shows. Fans in arenas heckle them, and it occasionally crosses a line. On social media, their notifications are filled with hate over lost bets, team failures, and personal barbs.
And LegendZ is hardly the first account to try this. Jomboy Media posts similar videos documenting MLB disagreements and gets millions of views. But LegendZ is far more salacious and gossip-driven than the more goofy Jomboy breakdowns.
Awful Announcing reached out to LegendZ for comment on what they do when they are unsure what an NBA player or coach says in a clip and whether anyone in the NBA has contacted them with concerns over the accounts, LegendZ replied via email, “Before I send any response, I would like the opportunity to know more about your website and how LegendZ Productions will benefit from it.”
After three subsequent follow-ups by Awful Announcing, LegendZ did not respond further.
LegendZ takes the most public part of the NBA and edits it into a reality show scene. Already players are on-guard on the court, with thousands of fans in attendance and potentially millions more watching at home. In today’s media age, sports are merely a place where content happens, not just content themselves. And with LegendZ lurking, any micro move or comment out of the corner of the mouth becomes fruit for clicks. Edit them all together and certainly you can convince hungry fans that drama has arrived.
