LeBron’s ‘Second Decision’ wasted everyone’s time

With bated breath, diehard sports fans in America and across the globe waited to see what LeBron James’s “The Second Decision,” meant for the NBA icon’s future. Retirement? A team change? Another son being gifted – ahem – earning an NBA draft pick?

“Everyone’s on pins and needles across the country,” the host said in the anticipated video. “You ready to go, LeBron?”

Then, a pause for unnecessary dramatic effect. “LeBron, fans want to know where you’re taking your talents this year. What’s your decision?”

“In this fall, man this is tough,” James’s bad acting enunciates, “In this fall, I’m going to be taking my talents to Hennessy VSOP.” Hennessy is a cognac brand. He was announcing a new brand deal. The host then asks,“And this was the conclusion you woke up with this morning?”

Well, LeBron, thanks for wasting our morning. What in the corny, cliche publicity stunt was this? Make fun of yourself, sure. But you really spent all this production money for a Hennessy ad. Bring back ’90s Ashton Kutcher – we just got Punk’d in the name of narcissistic, low-brow comedy.

James’s first posted about “The Second Decision” on social-media on Monday. It sent tickets for the Los Angeles Lakers final home game of the 2025-26 regular season through the roof. Prior to the post, the cheapest available ticket for the game started at $82. After the post, those prices soared to $580 each. To the fans who shelled out for what is now a non-historic game: try downing some Hennessy VSOP to drown those sorrows of getting financially played by your favorite athlete.

The “first” decision came, of course, more than a decade ago, when LeBron injected the nation’s sports fans with a dose of anxiety to announce his first major free-agency move. “The Decision,” as it was billed, was a television-ratings bonanza, during which he told the world he was “taking his talents to South Beach.”

Thus began what many consider to be the start of the modern super-team basketball era, where star players plot their moves together. In this case, it was Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James leading the Miami Heat. It worked. The Miami Heat won back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013.

So fans expected the “second” decision would be an announcement of equal import. Instead, today’s commercial announcement cheapened what was a first-of-its-kind moment.

It was a marketing ploy, designed to go viral and make money. Because why wouldn’t it be in 2025?

After all, James just went on popular Twitch streamer Kai Cenat’s stream a week ago. He joins the ranks of other celebs like Kevin Hart, Drake and Teyana Taylor to hit Cenat’s streams. Perhaps this is the new normal of media consumption. The cool kids in the club – or rather, the old kids as LeBron James is at 40 years old starting his NBA record 23rd season – want to compete digitally with 20-year-old influencers.

Some may call this marketing genius. But the best basketball player of the modern era does not need to do this. LeBron James’s wallet is loaded enough. Our laughs at this moment are not.