In all sports, it is a fact that the highest performing athletes are most vulnerable to criticism when they make a mistake because it occurs so infrequently.

As it happens, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers has already faced considerable mockery following an incident that occurred during a game against the Denver Nuggets just one game into the current NBA season.

It happened when second-year player Christian Braun aggressively blocked a LeBron shot in the second quarter of the game, which ended with the current champion Nuggets winning 119-107.

Naturally, videos of the incident went viral on social media since LeBron is so much more well-known in the sport than Braun is.

Supporters react when Braun blocks LeBron James as he drives to the hoop. Braun blocks LeBron James from behind, sending the shot flying into the front row of the fans.

Although Braun’s rookie season saw him average just 0.2 blocks per game, on opening night he denied one of the best of all time.

Among the several comments on social media, “LeBron got swatted by Christian Braun, my GOAT is washed,” was one from a fan who was trolling the veteran for going viral, and another from one of his admirers who realized that perhaps his finest days were behind him.

LeBron scored 21 points in just 29 minutes of play on Tuesday, and Lakers coach Darvin Ham hinted that this kind of limited playing time might become the norm.

Regarding his less playing time than usual, the four-time MVP remarked, “I guess there’s a system in place and I’m going to follow it,” during his post-game media availability.