Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show throws subtle shade at the Lakers superstar: "Barea, the one who became champion before LeBron"
- Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show performance included a shoutout to JJ Barea, referencing the fact that Barea won an NBA championship before LeBron James.
Before he even performed at Levi's Stadium last Sunday night, Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny's appointment as Super Bowl XL halftime show drew controversy. And after he delivered his almost entirely Spanish performance, there were plenty of reactions both ways.
One of the more interesting comments was from NBA fans who noticed that in one of his songs, he delivered a shoutout to fellow Puerto Rican and ex-NBA player JJ Barea. Or, if you ask LeBron's haters, Bad Bunny dissed LeBron James during the most-watched sporting event on American TV.
"Y de Barea, el que fue campeón primero que Lebron" he sang, which in English roughly translates to "And Barea, the one who became champion before LeBron."
The myth that Barea locked down LeBron
Barea and LeBron have been used in the same sentence countless times since 2011, when the Dallas Mavericks stunned the Big 3 Miami Heat and won the 2011 NBA Finals. In that series, Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle famously inserted Barea into his starting lineup beginning Game 4, with his team down 1-2 in the series.
The move turned out to be the game-changer in the series as Barea's playmaking and fast pace injected new life into the Mavs and helped them win the next three games to clinch the first championship in franchise history. And because James struggled in those three games, including just eight points in Game 4, the myth of Barea locking down LeBron was heavily promoted by his haters.
But the truth was, JJ was never Bron's primary defender. He happened to just switch on him on several instances, and during those times, the Mavs did a good job of defending him as a team, causing him to miss shots. However, Bad Bunny's line was correct because the Mavs beat the Heat in 2011, and Barea became a champion one year ahead of LeBron.
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Did Bad Bunny diss LeBron?
Of course, LeBron's haters looked at it from the other side of the coin - that Bad Bunny "fooled" LeBron for losing the 2011 NBA Finals. That is not the case, though. The controversial line comes from a 2022 song, "El Apagón," on his album "Un Verano Sin Ti." So it wasn't a spur-of-the-moment diss; it was part of the lyrics of a song meant to celebrate Barea's success, not poke fun at LeBron.
Also, that song was written in 2022. It can be recalled that in 2023, Bad Bunny dropped into one of the Los Angeles Lakers' home games, and he and LeBron shared a hug where the Lakers' star referred to him as "My brother" and Bad Bunny called LeBron " La Cabra " - which translates to, well, "The Goat." Last year, LeBron was in attendance during the first night of the Puerto Rican's concert in his native land.
On Sunday, Bad Bunny performed 13 songs in what NBC claims was the most-watched Super Bowl halftime show since 2018. The 11th song in that setlist was "El Apagón", and one line in that song celebrated Barea becoming only the second Puerto Rican, after Butch Lee in 1980, to win an NBA title. It was an uncomplimentary mention for LeBron. But it was certainly no direct diss.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Feb 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
