Lakers star LeBron James says he’s taking a hiatus from social media

LOS ANGELES – LeBron James says he’s taking a break from social media.

The NBA’s all-time leading scorer and Los Angeles Lakers star took to X and Instagram on Wednesday to announce that he is stepping away from his pages. James has 159 million followers on Instagram, 52.9 million on X.

James started the rant by reposting something Rich Kleiman, Kevin Durant’s longtime manager, posted to X on Oct. 24.

“We can all recognize that sport is the last part of society that universally brings people together. So why can’t coverage do the same?” Kleiman wrote that day. “It’s just clickbait when you say that. When the platform is this big, you can make the change and give us all an opportunity to escape negativity in real life. I think it’s all a waste of breath.”

James on Instagram posted a screenshot of Kleiman’s post and added the caption, “Amen!!” and then underneath it wrote: “Damn shame what it’s come to!” On X, his repost of Kleiman simply said, “AMEN!!”

Kleiman has only posted a handful of times since his Oct. 24 post, and James apparently doesn’t plan to post much — or anything — for now.

His announcement came a day after he said “everybody on the Internet called me a liar all the time” when he said he watched Dalton Knecht’s college games last year at Tennessee — long before the Lakers drafted the sharpshooting guard.

“And with that being said, I want to say hi! Disappearing from social media for now. Take care,” James wrote, followed by emojis of a hand holding up two fingers — often symbolizing someone leaving a place — and a crown, a nod to his “King James” moniker.

James, who turns 40 next month and is the NBA’s oldest active player, is a four-time NBA champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist, the latest of which came earlier this year at the Paris Games.

The Lakers are 10-4, winners of six straight and play Orlando at home next Thursday.