Big Foe, King James: Frances Tiafoe meets LeBron James at Wizards-Lakers game
Tiafoe had previously gushed about his basketball idol after James gave him a shoutout in the wake of his Rafael Nadal upset at the US Open.
FLASHBACK: Frances Tiafoe's popcorn Washington D.C. quarterfinal against Nick Kyrgios came in at No. 8 in our Top 10 Matches of 2022 list.
Big Foe, King James: two sporting giants converged at the Washington Wizards-Los Angeles Lakers game.
“Nothing but love OG,” Tiafoe wrote on Instagram along with a video commemorating the meeting.
The warm-up embrace was the culmination of a months-long lovefest between Tiafoe and James, who tweeted his congratulations when the former scored a US Open upset over Rafael Nadal.
“Man, I was losing it in the locker room,” Tiafoe said at the time. “Bro, I was going crazy. Yeah, I mean, that's my guy. So to see him post that, I was like, ‘Do I retweet it as soon as he sent it?’ I was like, ‘You know what, I'm going to be cool and act like I didn't see it and then retweet it three hours later.’”
Tiafoe went on to reach his first major semifinal in Flushing Meadows, and though he narrowly lost to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz, the American clearly drew big inspiration from his sporting idol en route to his career-best result
“Obviously, like, he knows I'm a big fan of his…That's super cool. The fact they're watching right now. It's a perfect time. US Open is always a perfect time because there's no real sports really going on. People can focus on tennis, which is great!”
Following the James summit, Tiafoe got to meet NBA Commissioner Adam Silver as he jokingly weighed a change in sports.
“I’ve decided that I will be declaring for the 2023 NBA draft,” captioned the world No. 19.