Lebron James: I Lost Respect For Phil Jackson After Racially Loaded Language

The word "posse" is driving a wedge between two of the NBA most famous figures, Lebron James and Phil Jackson.

It all started when Jackson dropped the p bomb in response to ESPN's Jackie MacMullan's question about Lebron and Pat Riley's relationship.

JM: It all started when LeBron left [Riley and Miami], right? Could you have ever imagined Earvin Johnson leaving Riley, or Michael Jordan leaving you? PJ: It had to hurt when they lost LeBron. That was definitely a slap in the face. But there were a lot of little things that came out of that. When LeBron was playing with the Heat, they went to Cleveland and he wanted to spend the night. They don’t do overnights. Teams just don’t. So now (coach Erik) Spoelstra has to text Riley and say, ‘What do I do in this situation?’ And Pat, who has iron-fist rules, answers, ‘You are on the plane, you are with this team.’ You can’t hold up the whole team because you and your mom and your posse want to spend an extra night in Cleveland.

All the hard work,effort and achievement and @PhilJackson11 still calls us a "posse"every step you take they remind you, you ghetto" @S_C_ pic.twitter.com/OPsPvAvFoM

— Maverick Carter (@mavcarter) November 14, 2016

Let me be clear I'm not saying @PhilJackson11 is racist,, I'm calling out his disrespectful language

— Maverick Carter (@mavcarter) November 15, 2016

James followed, by telling reporters he had "lost respect" for the Zen Master.

LeBron on Phil Jackson: "I had nothing but respect for him as a coach ..." Q: "Had respect?" LeBron: "Yeah" Q: "Until now?" LeBron: "Yeah"

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 15, 2016

LeBron James says he’s lost his respect for Phil Jackson, and had some more strong words for him. pic.twitter.com/n7vZXenSwC

— Jordan Heck (@JordanHeckFF) November 15, 2016

Are James and Carter being overly sensitive, or do they have a point?