LeBron James' HS Teammate Contacted Cavs Star After Frank Ntilikina Feud
LeBron James' high school teammate is playing peace broker between the Cleveland Cavaliers star and New York Knicks point guard Frank Ntilikina.
On Monday, Marc Berman of the New York Post reported Romeo Travis—who played with James at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, and Ntilikina in France—contacted James to discuss the rookie.
"I reached out to LeBron to make sure there was no hard feelings between Frank and him and let him know Frank was my guy," Travis said. "[LeBron] said it's not personal between them. He's just so positive about Dennis Smith and negative toward the Knicks front office."
Berman pointed out James turned heads when he said Dallas Mavericks point guard Dennis Smith "should be a Knick." The quote was notable because the Knicks selected Ntilikina with the No. 8 pick, right before Dallas selected Smith at No. 9.
Berman explained James was taking a jab at former Knicks president Phil Jackson rather than Ntilikina, but there was plenty of jawing during Cleveland's 104-101 victory over New York at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 13 when James wouldn't get out of Ntilikina's way following a dunk.
While Travis served as the middle man between James and Ntilikina, the four-time MVP had more direct conflict with Enes Kanter than the Knicks point guard—as the scuffle in Madison Square Garden revealed.
Kanter responded to James' comment about Smith on Twitter, saying "Nope!! We love what we got."
James then said he wasn't talking about Ntilikina and only had to clarify for "people who just live in the box and for Enes Kanter who's always got something to say," per Ian Begley of ESPN.com.
There was also a back-and-forth after the game, with Kanter saying, "What do you call yourself? King, Queen, Princess," per Al Iannazzone of Newsday, and James responding, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN, "I'm the king, my wife is the queen and my daughter is the princess."
As for Ntilikina, he was solid in the Cleveland contest with seven points and six steals, but he hasn't scored in double figures since a Nov. 5 win over the Indiana Pacers and has just nine assists in his last seven games.
He is averaging 4.6 points and 3.5 assists per game this season behind 35.2 percent shooting from the field and 26.7 percent shooting from three-point range. Despite the struggles, Travis urged fans to use patience when evaluating the rookie.
"We judge the young guys on a week-by-week basis instead of given them a learning curve to get better and make mistakes," Travis said. "It's a long season."
Fans will also need patience before the next matchup between James and Ntilikina because the Cavaliers don't play the Knicks again until April 9.
