Doug Gottlieb hits back at LeBron James in fiery rant after NBA star’s troll job
It’s no secret that radio personality-turned-Horizon League head coach Doug Gottlieb has had a tough first season at Wisconsin-Green Bay.
His Phoenix are 3-24, and although they are coming off a win over Wright State that snapped a massive 21-game losing streak, things just aren’t going well.
That losing streak was a tough one, and it drew some national attention. So much attention, in fact, that LeBron James commented on it on social media.
That response on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, drew a direct response from Gottlieb on Fox Sports as a call-in guest on his own show.
“Don’t you have better things to do? My response is: Colin [Cowherd] told me a long time ago, ‘Don’t punch down. Always punch up.’ So me talking trash to him would technically be punching up. And him, it’s punching down. So I don’t know. I guess pettiness and insecurity aren’t limited to just people who aren’t super successful in their field. I guess that would be my response,” Gottlieb said (h/t On3).
Why there’s beef between James and Gottlieb is anybody’s guess, but it may have to do with the fact that Gottlieb got the job despite having no previous head-coaching experience and he continues to do his daily radio show while coaching the Phoenix.
For a guy like James who eats, sleeps and breathes basketball and basketball only, perhaps he doesn’t feel Gottlieb deserves the opportunity to “double dip” like he is.
Or maybe — like many college basketball fans — he just found the team’s bad luck humorous.
