Michelle Beadle is no longer with ESPN although she was with the network for over 10 years. Throughout that time, Beadle got to host SportsNation as well as NBA Countdown. During that time, she turned out to be a controversial figure as not everyone was a fan of her commentary, which typically came with quite a bit of bias.
Recently, Beadle sat down with a former ESPN colleague of hers, Paul Pierce, on a podcast for The Athletic. During the episode, Beadle came out and dropped a bombshell, stating that LeBron James attempted to get her fired from ESPN back in 2010 after she had some harsh words to say about "The Decision." Beadle was confused by the ordeal, as many others had also made similar comments.
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"He tried," Beadle said. "He did try to do that. I was like, ‘Wow, I’m honored that I’m even on your mind. Thank you very much. That’s a weird place for me to be.’ My stuff with him started off not personal. I made fun of ‘The Decision’ like 400,000 other talking heads did at the time. I think for some reason that was it. It wasn’t personal to begin, but now it will always be personal."
LeBron has been known to be the most powerful player in the NBA, so it's not surprising that he might attempt such a thing. Of course, back in 2010, he wasn't the champion he is now, so his pull was certainly not as heavy as it is now. Regardless, if Beadle is telling the truth, then this is definitely an interesting footnote in the overarching story of LeBron James.