Man dressed in LeBron James Miami Heat uniform tries to check into Lindenwood-IUPUI game
In what will surely be the oddest moment from the Saturday slate of college basketball, someone not on either team tried to check into a game between IUPUI and Lindenwood. And for kicks, they were wearing a full LeBron James Miami Heat uniform, in white.
With 1:21 left in the game and IUPUI trailing by seven while shooting free throws, the man came to the scorers table and tried to check into the game. After a brief stoppage, an IUPUI assistant coach or staffer escorts him from the court to a security guard, who apparently took him from the arena.
And the man responsible is apparently YouTuber and social media poster known as “Mantis” who has a habit of sneaking into places he’s not supposed to be in sporting arenas.
From his account on X/Twitter, he retweeted and added comments on numerous posts showing what appeared to be him in the James uniform.
“We were down 7,” Mantis said with one repost, adding a shrugging emoji.
“Craziest Make-A-Wish ever,” he said on another.
He later posted a video on social media recapping the endeavor, with the caption “I Subbed Into A Division 1 College Basketball Game” even though he did not actually sub into the game in any capacity whatsoever.
Lindenwood held on for the road win, 73-67.
The actual LeBron James has been busy elsewhere
First and foremost, the ongoing NBA season is the main conflict keeping James from trying to play college basketball, finally. And at this point, his interest in college basketball revolves more around his eldest son, Bronny, who currently attends USC.
At the beginning of the month, Bronny was finally medically cleared to play, spurring relief and excitment from his father.
“I mean, obviously, you’ve seen the press release. But just a proud moment, big-time excitement for our family, for Bronny, and for USC as well,” James said. “It’s something that he has been working toward for the last 12 weeks. For him to get the clearance to do what he loves to do? Going back to being with his teammates, putting on a uniform, things of that nature? It’s very gratifying, for sure.”
This was a long process, though, with no guarantees at the end of it. Bronny’s incident of cardiac arrest back at the end of July, which occurred due to a congenital heart defect, put a significant pause on what appears to be his very bright future in basketball.
Still, after much prayer, a lot of research, and hard work from everyone involved, James is ecstactic that this matter worked out how it did for Bronny.
“We just put it in God’s hands, man. Just trusted. That’s it. We prayed as a family. We had great doctors along the way the whole time telling us that they believed things would work out for us and in our favor,” James said. “Bronny took care of his business and he did everything. Didn’t have any setbacks, didn’t try to rush the process of his rehab. He took