Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. Oct 28, 2022; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (6) talks with referee Karl Lane in the third quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Browns defeated the Washington Commanders on New Year’s Day, 24-10, after another pitiful performance from Carson Wentz.

Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson also did not light the world on fire. However, unlike Wentz, he was not an active detriment to his team. Watson finished with nine completions on 18 attempts for 169 yards and three touchdown passes. He added eight rushes for 31 yards with a long of 21, too.

Despite the decent performance, Watson is still reeling from the fallout around the 12-game suspension for gross sexual misconduct that he served to start the season. He is still radioactive to corporate sponsors.

That, however, did not stop Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, who grew up a fan of the Dallas Cowboys, from praising the Browns quarterback following the meaningless Week 17 win:

Yessir D Watson!! Another one. That boy getting his rhythm back!” James tweeted.

The NFL world was quick to react to James’ praise of Watson:

“One of several pretty huge bummers on this front in recent months,” Alex Kirshner wrote.

“My fandom of LeBron as a basketball player has been a mixed bag throughout his career,” Eric Froehlich wrote. “My fandom of LeBron as a person & what he represented was always S tier. This isn’t it. Watson is ‘out of rhythm’ due to suspensions after 30 different women alleged sexual misconduct by him.

“I wonder if LeBron James will be disappointed in the media for asking him questions about this,” Louis Keene wrote.

“The comments and QT on this LeBron tweet is exactly why the NFL account hides Deshaun Watson’s name. LeBron is getting cooked for publicly supporting Watson,” Dov Kleiman wrote.

Not everyone, however, was mad at LeBron:

“LeBron supports a fellow black athlete who’s never been charged with a crime, his mentions turn into a sewer. Fine example of this website at its worst,” Petter Pattakos wrote.

The tweet garnered over 27,000 “likes” in the 18 hours since James made the post.

[LeBron James]