LeBron James laughs at his “reaction” to James Harden’s trade

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8:15 p.m. ET

  • Kelly CohenESPN

Chances are, if you’re a sports fan, you’ve seen the name James Harden trending on social media this week. Harden was traded by the Houston Rockets to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday in a mega deal of four teams that also sent Caris LeVert to the Indiana Pacers and Victor Oladipo, among others (plus a stack of draft picks), to Houston.

So there is now a new Big Three in Brooklyn: Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

Someone familiar with being part of a Big Three is LeBron James, who won two NBA championships with the Miami Heat when he famously teamed up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in 2010. Ten years later, James’ Los Angeles Lakers are the defending NBA champions – and they are the team to beat in the quest for the Larry O’Brien Trophy this season.

Cue Mark Phillips, the founder and the face of RDCworld1 – a YouTube channel that provides online entertainment through sketches, vlogs and short films. Phillips posted a video impersonating James when James learned about the Harden trade and the new nets.

So it’s James, Durant and Kyrie? I am 36! I am 36! Why is everyone opposed to me? ‘ Phillips, who plays James, yells. ‘I’m not Thanos! Don’t throw the ball for me anymore! I’m tired of doing this! I just defeated the Warriors! ‘

The clip also got Thanos – the Marvel villain – trending.

On Twitter, the video was viewed more than 8.7 million times on Thursday evening. It had a further 1.9 million on YouTube and 1.2 million on Phillips’ Instagram page. It’s not shocking that The King himself saw the video – and he responded.

Phillips told ESPN that he and his friends have been making videos for years and they are growing in popularity. They’ve had hits with other videos about James, and been called out by other celebrities, from Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson to rapper J. Cole to actor Michael B. Jordan. But this took things to a new level.

“But the crazy thing about LeBron is that we make videos that involve him … so when he did it, I didn’t think it was real,” Phillips said. “We were actually in the middle of filming a YouTube video and didn’t realize he was tweeting it. My cousin FaceTimed me and told me, and I was in shock.

“Right away he said, ‘You made it, you made it,’ and we couldn’t believe it at all, but we just screamed for joy and all thronged around one phone with the highest level of excitement.”

Approval of The King? That is really trend worthy.

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