LeBron James' Triple-Double is Tainted With a Bogus Assist [UPDATE]

LeBron James recorded a triple-double and the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 118-111 on Monday night. The Pelicans had a lead at halftime, but near the end of the 3rd quarter the Cavs’ surged and played like the team everyone imagined when LeBron and Kevin Love were acquired. Towards the start of that run, Kyrie Irving made a fast break layup and LeBron was credited with the assist.

[UPDATE: The NBA has made the change and stripped James of an assist. No triple double!]

As Reddit user Timi093 points out, LeBron’s 7th assist was about as far from an assist as you can imagine. That play is in the gif above.

Here’s the ESPN play-by-play:

Here is the NBA.com play-by-play:

LeBron tipped the ball to Tristan Thompson who threw an outlet pass to Kyrie. Irving then dribbled from half-court to the basket for a difficult layup. LeBron was credited with the assist despite never passing the ball to Irving on a play that should not have included an assist. How in the world did this happen? If LeBron had actually been the one to throw the outlet pass, I can at least see the argument for the assist/not an assist debate, but this is just weird hometown stat-stuffing.

How many other assists has Tristan Thompson been robbed of in the pursuit of teammates’ egos? Is Tristan Thompson actually leading the NBA in assists right now, but we just don’t know it? And how about the whispers about Kyrie and Dion Waiters not passing the ball early in the season? This conspiracy could go all the way to the top. Could John Stockton be involved? Mark Price? What do we really know about the Assistinati? These are the questions that make bloggers disappear.