Lance Stephenson Explains LeBron James 'Ear Blowing' Incident From 2014

The mystery of why Lance Stephenson blew into LeBron James’ ear during the Western Conference Finals in 2014 has finally been solved after the player himself revealed the reason earlier this week.

The incident occurred when Stephenson was with the Indiana Pacers and James was in his first season with the Miami Heat after his controversial move from the Cleveland Cavaliers. The two teams were facing for a place in the 2014 NBA Finals.

It was between possessions when the two players stood next to each other that Stephenson would go onto casually blow into James’ ear, receiving hardly any reaction from the now four-time MVP. The incident, however, would go onto become historic with a number of NBA fans recognizing Stephenson for just this one action.

There was never any explanation given as to why the shooting guard decided to blow into the Heat forward’s ear, until this week. James left Cleveland for the second time earlier this year to join the Los Angeles Lakers as a free agent and will now be teammates with Stephenson, who arrived after one season with the Pacers – his second stint with the team as well.

As soon as he was signed by the Lakers, the "ear blowing" incident again became the topic of discussion and he has finally revealed the reason. Stephenson finally admitted that it was purely a tactic to try and get a reaction from James and put him off his game.

Stephenson and the Pacers were keen to make the NBA Finals and recognized that they had to ensure James did not play his best and thus the action from the shooting guard. It did not, however, affect the now three-time NBA champion as the Heat went on to the finals and won the title in 2014.

"There were a lot of serious moments in the season where we was talking junk, going after each other," Stephenson told “theScore”, as per CBS Sports. “I was really trying to get him mad -- like, really trying to win the game, get him unfocused, and I was trying anything."

"For you to do something to somebody and they don't respond, they keep continuing and playing hard, its like, 'Yo, what, how do I get in this ... how do I?' But LeBron was such a good player. I was just trying to do anything to get him frustrated,” the Lakers’ shooting guard added.

Stephenson will now be on the same team as James, while he does not regret his actions, the 29-year-old admitted he still questions himself about the need to blow into his then opponent’s ear midway through the game.

"I don't regret it, but sometimes I look at it, like, why did I do that? What made me do that? ... It's going to be different being friends with LeBron,” Stephenson said.