On Monday night, the Barclays Center was overrun with athletes galore. The 2016 SI Sportsperson of the Year Award Show took over Brooklyn where LeBron James was the guest of honor. The King was awarded the 2016 SI Sportsperson of the Year Award by Sports Illustrated for the second time in his NBA career.
But James wasn’t the only one getting honored on the night. Michael Phelps, Francisco Lindor got their own honors and a legendary trio of Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, Jim Brown, and Bill Russell also were recognized with an award named in Muhammad Ali’s honor.
'I remember as a kid dreaming that I wanted to win one Olympic medal.'@MichaelPhelps wins Greatest Olympian of All Time #SISportsperson pic.twitter.com/A6ouR91Jnp
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 13, 2016
One of many great moments from tonight: Francisco Lindor and David Ortiz laughing it up on the #SISportsperson stage pic.twitter.com/TM7KQKUNpd
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 13, 2016
Legends: @JimBrownNFL32 and @kaj33 react to winning the SI Muhammad Ali Legacy Award #SISportsperson pic.twitter.com/bM4MYTYVCW
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 13, 2016
But all eyes were on the King, LeBron James. But before Cleveland’s hero could take the stage he had to get formally introduced. He was brought on stage by none other than the man who (kinda) built Barclays Center, Jay Z.
Jay and LeBron do have a very close relationship and the superstar MC further displayed his love for LeBron by making a pretty topical joke. The man who runs Roc Nation sports took it upon himself to make a joke about LeBron James and his ‘posse’, of course referring to the comments made by New York Knicks president Phil Jackson.
Jay Z slips in a Phil Jackson shot while introducing LeBron James #SISportsperson pic.twitter.com/0PIF2jFrE2
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) December 13, 2016
Yep, Jay dropped the posse joke to which LeBron promptly mouthed ‘stop it’. The King knows this issue should go away immediately.
You can check out LeBron’s acceptance speech below
You can watch the full award show below, courtesy of Sports Illustrated.
