“We celebrate you today!!” Savannah cheered as the James family’s middle child, Bryce, turned 17 on June 14. The family was in celebratory mood and Bronny had a throwback picture for his little brother, sharing an adorable snap of the two as kids. But on the same day LeBron James was in the news for apparently purchasing a new Bugatti.

On Friday, an Instagram reel by a car dealership named Effortless Motors claiming that the superstar had purchased a Bugatti Chiron through them, caught James’ attention. “Congratulations @KingJames for trusting Effortless Motors,” the caption read alongside snippets of the car, currently priced at $4 million, being loaded onto a truck. The post also referred to James as their “biggest VIP customer.”

For context, LeBron James has a wide range of luxury cars like the Rolls Royce Phantom, which was a gift from Shaq, the Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, Mercedes Maybach S-650, and many more. So at first glance, this should not come as a surprise.

So, what about his latest purchase? Well, it turns out there wasn’t any. LeBron James, whose promotional tweets were once valued at $140,000, did not take too kindly to the post. He took to his Instagram stories to immediately shut down the claims. “Stop the [cap]!! LIARS!! I don’t know y’all and I don’t even have that car. CLOUT CHASERS,” he wrote, calling out the company for falsely using his name, while sharing the video of the company.

The 4X NBA Champion’s backlash was immediately felt by the company as fans rushed to call out the company for false advertising. A fan wrote, “LMAOOOO BRON EXPOSED YALL,” while another chimed in with, “LeBron don’t know you lil’ bro.” Later, according to TMZ, Daniel Ubario, the owner of Effortless Motors, confessed to it just being a ‘marketing ploy’ and “didn’t expect the post to blow up like it did.” He also stated that the post had been taken down.

Coming clean on the issue, Ubario further said he has never worked with the Lakers star in any capacity, let alone selling him the Bugatti shown in the company’s Instagram video. The dealership owner also claimed to have personally reached out to apologize to James but is yet to receive a response. It remains to be seen if the NBA legend proceeds to take legal action for this act of false advertising.

This isn’t the first time, James has found himself attached to fake advertising. In 2020, he had to shut down a misleading ad that used his image and made unfounded claims that voting by mail led to voter fraud. This was during the 2020 election campaign and led to James voicing his anger, as he tweeted, “Nobody should be able to use my name (or anyone else name) to lie and deceive about the election. Not sure what we can do legally but definitely trying to figure it out!.”

In 2022, he was again the victim of false news and this time around it was about his Lakers stint. A Twitter user masquerading as James, put out a post that the NBA star wanted a trade. However, it was soon verified that the tweet didn’t come from NBA’s record point scorer. But for a very brief period a lot of people had bought into the news.

This could have been the case with the Bugatti ad as well, but King James was quick and direct to shut it down. Meanwhile, soon after the mess, he took to Instagram to celebrate Bryce’s birthday with heartfelt wishes.

“Young King,” LeBron James celebrates son’s birthday with a heartwarming post

The James couple’s second child was born on this day in 2007, right in the middle of the NBA Finals! A basketball player, just like his dad and his brother, Bryce usually plays the shooting guard. He is currently studying at Sierra Canyon High School in LA and will be turning a senior this year.

He got his first offer to play basketball on a Division I scholarship in August 2022 from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His dad, who was once seen outsmarting him in a friendly driveway game, couldn’t be prouder.

He shared his joy and pride in the little one through an Instagram post dedicated to Bryce. The warm caption read, “SCREAMING, HAPPY BDAY TO MY TWIN BRYCE MAXIMUS. LOVE YOU YOUNG KING.”  He even took the opportunity to reshare a post, a throwback to Bryce’s childhood, and captioned it, “A YOUNG KING BDAY!!!!” A nickname only fitting for King James’ son. But seems like Bryce wasn’t exactly in for the celebrations.

Earlier on the 14th, Savannah shared a celebratory post for Bryce. She captioned it, “Happiest Birthday @_justbryce!!! I CAN NOT believe you are 17🥲 Even though you cancelled all of our birthday fun, 🙄 we celebrate you today!! 😂 I love you beyond the universe!!”

Well, the James family were all excited for Bryce and perhaps more attention could’ve been on him during his birthday, had the fake claim against his father not made headlines.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, had to say about WNBA sensation Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, this video