LeBron James Enrages Fans with Retirement Fake-Out Revealed to Be an Ad

LeBron James left fans feeling frustrated, although relieved, after what he indicated would be a huge announcement turned out to be an advertisement.

After James, 40, teased a major announcement with a cryptic video on social media Monday, Oct. 6, fans speculated that the NBA’s leading scorer of all time was headed for retirement.

James captioned the post, “The decision of all decisions. October 7th. 12pm EST,” and added the hashtag “#TheSecondDecision,” a nod to his 2010 announcement that he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.

Fans were left thinking the announcement must be something major, especially with his Los Angeles Lakers contract expiring at the end of the coming NBA season.

The hours after James’ teaser had reporters and fans alike speculating, with Lakers beat reporter Harrison Faigen reminding fans that the NBA star partnered with Amazon Prime last year for their Prime Day sales, and TickPick reported that seats for the upcoming Lakers season “absolutely skyrocketed” following the teaser. In hours, tickets that were $85 before James’ tweet were reportedly bumped up to $445.

But after all that speculation, James’ big announcement turned out to be an advertisement for Hennessy.

“Well, everyone’s on pins and needles across the country,” a host tells James in the ad. “You ready to go LeBron? Where’s the powder?,” the host asks, referring to James’ pre-game ritual of tossing baby powder into the air at the scorers table.

James says he left the powder at home before sharing his decision: “It’s gonna be tough, but this fall, I’m taking my talents to Hennessy VSOP.”

The NBA star said he feels like Hennessy VSOP will help him “win more,” but not on the basketball court. James playfully listed, “Win at hosting, win at having a good time, win at making friends, win at making memories,” as the reason he’s partnering with the alcohol brand.

After the ad was revealed, James took to Instagram and reposted the video with emojis. Fans were relieved James will continue playing basketball, but many found the ad’s teaser to be “corny” and distasteful.

“There’s no way you called it the second decision and then it’s an advertisement,” said one fan, adding, “that is over level 9000 corny. Fire the entire marketing department and just get 4 random guys from Twitter that are chronically online because this was a humongous L. If sales go up I’ll be shocked.”

Another fan criticized the move as inauthentic and called it “just a cash grab” on X.

And others were mad that they almost spent money on what they thought would be his final season, calling the teaser “nasty work” on social media. “I almost dropped a major bag on tickets thinking my dawg was retiring man. Who tf okay’d this!?”

Others, however, didn’t fall for the gag. “This ad backfiring was as predictable as this being an ad when it was teased yesterday,” said one user, and another wrote, “There were little kids outside of my son’s elementary school this morning talking about what this was about. They’re going to be so disappointed it was just an ad for something they’re waaaaay too young to for.”