Is it too late to ask for a refund?
LeBron James set the internet on fire earlier this week when he teased a major announcement scheduled for yesterday at noon, reminiscent of his television special “The Decision” from 2010 when he announced that he would be leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers and taking his talents to South Beach to play for the Miami Heat.
The Los Angeles Lakers forward is about to enter into his 23rd year in the NBA, which is truly insane if you think about it. There are now players in the National Basketball League that weren’t even born yet during LeBron’s rookie year.
And with LeBron being 40-years-old (he’s set to turn 41 in December), the word “retirement” has been tossed around a good amount. Many critics and analysts have been predicting James’ fall-off for the past couple of seasons, yet he continues to be one of the most dominant players in the game in his early 40s.
But the retirement talk really ramped up on Monday when LeBron shared a video on his social media accounts that teased “The Second Decision.”
Fans were in full panic mode, and fully expecting that James would share that he was going on his farewell tour during the 2025-26 NBA season.
But yesterday, fans realized that they had been duped. “The Second Decision” turned out to just be…an ad for Hennessey.
Great joke LeBron, you got us.
The problem, though, is that many fans really did expect the announcement to be about his retirement – so they rushed to buy Los Angeles Lakers tickets to see LeBron during his final season, sending ticket prices skyrocketing before finding out that it was just an ad for Henny.
According to Vivid Seats, tickets for the final Lakers home game of the 2025-26 season against the Utah Jazz shot up from just $82 to get into the game to a whopping $580 – no doubt angering fans who just dropped almost $600 to see what turns out is just a regular Lakers game.
And aside from all the people who wasted money to see LeBron’s final game that turns out isn’t his final game, people weren’t happy with the “engagement farming” that LeBron James and his team pulled off with this one.
The internet didn’t take long to start ripping LeBron for teasing what seemed to be a big-time life change, only for it to actually be an advertisement for the popular cognac brand:
— McNeil (@Reflog_18) October 7, 2025
— . (@ytlyts) October 7, 2025
A grown ah 40 year old man baiting for attention just for an ad pic.twitter.com/bFlKV2Lhql
— APHoops (@APH00PS) October 7, 2025
— lilstovetop ⚡️ (@LilStovetop_) October 7, 2025
Bro gaslit everyone for a Hennessy ad 😅💀
— OurSF49ers (@OurSf49ers) October 7, 2025
— KlawedUP (@KlawedUP) October 7, 2025
This could’ve been an email
— Garrett, The Car Guy. Fort Bend Toyota (@houstonfan4life) October 7, 2025
Gotta give it to him I guess, he knows how to get attention. But now when he does finally tease his retirement, nobody’s going to believe it’s really happening.
