When attending an NBA basketball game, it’s not uncommon to see courtside seats filled with athletes and celebrities taking in the competition, and the Game 4 playoff battle between the Boston Celtics and the Cleveland Cavaliers at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse arena in Cleveland, Ohio, was no exception. Mark Wahlberg and Khloe Kardashian were among the A-listers in the arena. But only one celeb merited a lengthy video montage on the Jumbotron and a standing ovation from the crowd—LeBron James was in the house. And he was drinking wine fit for a king.
James, now with the Los Angeles Lakers, started his legendary career with his hometown Cavs and later returned to lead the franchise to its first-ever NBA title in 2016, when they came back from down three games to one to beat Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors. The Lakers went down this year in the first round, so what brought LeBron to Cleveland? Was he supporting his hometown team? Was he hoping to persuade Donovan Mitchell to join the Lakers?
More importantly, was that an entire bottle of wine under his seat?
Eagle-eyed fans quickly noticed that James had three bottles of water, a coffee cup and a bottle of wine under his chair. Zooming in, it was a bottle of Opus One. The Napa Valley producer, founded in 1978 by Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Robert Mondavi, is truly a wine fit for royalty.
An MVP of Wine Appreciation
The NBA is stacked with enophiles, such as Carmelo Anthony and Channing Frye, and the league recently announced a partnership with Kendall-Jackson and La Crema to be the official wines for NBA and WNBA games, respectively. King James is especially well-known for his love of wine and often shares videos of him imbibing top bottlings on social media. In 2017, he took the Cavs on a pilgrimage to Napa Valley, hitting top wineries including Mayacamas. He has even been filmed holding a glass of red wine while entering an arena before a game he was playing in. It’s no surprise to see him enjoying wine while taking in a game.
But to see a bottle of Opus One under his chair raised a slew of eyebrows (and many jokes). Did LeBron order the bottle at the arena? It appears not, as there was a handwritten note on the label. Did he BYOB?
Courtside tickets aren't cheap and playoff games would be on the high end of the spectrum. The premium seating comes with perks. So, perhaps there was no need to charge a corkage fee. But the sighting did inspire plenty of jokes on social media, where commentators noted that James was covering all his bases with water, caffeine and alcohol.
Sadly for James, the Cavs lost 105-100, and he opted to leave the arena early. The Celtics went on to win the series and then took down the Indiana Pacers in four games straight, securing a spot in the NBA finals. But James could take solace—the wine was probably exquisite.
Enjoy Unfiltered? The best of Unfiltered's round-up of drinks in pop culture can now be delivered straight to your inbox every other week! Sign up now to receive the Unfiltered e-mail newsletter, featuring the latest scoop on how wine intersects with film, TV, music, sports, politics and more.
