--- title: Crying LeBron Meme Could Be New Crying Jordan: NBA Game 7 description: When LeBron burst into tears after delivering his long-promised first NBA championship to Cleveland, the Internet wasted no time in making memes. canonical: https://time.com/4375049/crying-lebron-jordan-game-7/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-20T18:15:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:33:32.220Z og:title: Is 'Crying LeBron' The New 'Crying Jordan?' og:description: Cue the memes. og:url: https://time.com/4375049/crying-lebron-jordan-game-7/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4f4a0e6ed12c57/69889893524fc0a618df86ff/crying-lebron-crying-jordan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: 2016 NBA Finals - Game Seven og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Is 'Crying LeBron' The New 'Crying Jordan?' twitter:description: Cue the memes. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4f4a0e6ed12c57/69889893524fc0a618df86ff/crying-lebron-crying-jordan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Is 'Crying LeBron' The Next 'Crying Jordan?' > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 20, 2016 6:15 PM UTC  (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) Ezra Shaw—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jun 20, 2016 6:15 PM UTC When [LeBron James](http://time.com/4367467/nba-draymond-green-suspension/) burst into tears [after delivering the long-promised NBA championship to Cleveland](http://time.com/4374422/cleveland-cavaliers-golden-state-warriors-lebron-james-nba-game-7-basketball/?xid=tcoshare) during Game 7 of the 2016 playoffs series, the web wasted no time turning the emotional moment into a meme. King James might have been crowned the series MVP, but the real MVP was definitely the Internet, who made it their sole goal to try to replace [the ubiquitous “Crying Jordan” meme](http://time.com/4370638/crying-jordan-site-redirects-cleveland-cavaliers/) with “Crying LeBron.” Will “Crying LeBron” be the next “Crying Jordan?” If the online offerings are any indication, it just might be. See the best of what the Internet had to offer below. > [](https://twitter.com/ad%5Fwilson/status/744727411288379392) It was only natural that “Crying LeBron” would come for league MVP [Steph Curry](http://time.com/4301269/stephen-curry-2016-time-100/). > [](https://twitter.com/haydensmartt/status/744902358455320576) The Internet was quick to move from “Crying Jordan” to “Crying LeBron.” > [](https://twitter.com/RamblinGrimace/status/744897026588966913) Of course Skip Bayless got a “Crying LeBron” treatment. > [](https://twitter.com/SamTFarley/status/744821072764100609) | Others merged the worlds of the NBA with _Game of Thrones_ in a truly epic meme. | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4375049/crying-lebron-jordan-game-7/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4375049/crying-lebron-jordan-game-7/"},"headline":"Is 'Crying LeBron' The Next 'Crying Jordan?'","datePublished":"2016-06-20T18:15:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:33:32.220Z","description":"Cue the memes.","url":"https://time.com/4375049/crying-lebron-jordan-game-7/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","Sports topic","Lebron James","memes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4f4a0e6ed12c57/69889893524fc0a618df86ff/crying-lebron-crying-jordan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0d4f4a0e6ed12c57/69889893524fc0a618df86ff/crying-lebron-crying-jordan.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2016 NBA Finals - Game Seven","caption":"2016 NBA Finals - Game Seven","creditText":"Ezra Shaw—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4375049/crying-lebron-jordan-game-7/","name":"Is 'Crying LeBron' The Next 'Crying Jordan?'"}}]}] ```