LeBron James referenced a 4-month-old Kevin Love quote in a tweet, and the fallout is getting absurd

Despite winning 13 of 14 games, the Cleveland Cavaliers are dealing with the fallout of a LeBron James tweet that may or may not have been a shot at teammate Kevin Love.

On Saturday LeBron tweeted this:

It raised eyebrows because Love also used the phrase "fit out" back in October when talking about how he's adapting to his new situation in Cleveland.

He told Dave McMenamin of ESPN before the season began, "I'm comfortable and just not trying to, I guess, fit in so much. I had a talk with the guys on the plane ride over (to Brazil) and also at different practices off the floor and they told me to fit out. Just be myself."

Love has seen his numbers decline across the board this year, culminating in a five-point performance on Friday night against the Clippers.

Since "fit out" isn't really a thing people say, many assumed LeBron was talking about Love in his tweet.

Before Sunday's win over the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron denied that his tweet was about Love in front of a large group of reporters by saying, "It was more about people in general."

He then went into a whole thing about the Da Vinci Code in his explanation for why everyone needs to stop psychoanalyzing everything he says. From McMenamin:

James initially denied the tweet had anything to do with the Cavs, saying, "Obviously any thought that I have, people always want to encrypt it and Da Vinci Code it and all that stuff." He later illustrated the Da Vinci Code example, saying that a LeBron Truther online suggested he announced his comeback to Cleveland on July 11, 2014 -- 7/11/14 -- specifically on that day as a hat tip to the Finals losses in 2007, 2011 and 2014 he wanted to avenge. 

But moments later, when most of the reporters left, beat writer Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal says he showed LeBron Love's original "fit out" quote, and he acknowledged that his tweet was about Love.

"It's not a coincidence, man," he said.

Here's how Lloyd explains it:

I was shocked. McMenamin was shocked. No recorders were running, no cameras were live. It was just some guys standing around talking. The conversation continued for a few more minutes before James dressed and headed for the door. I stopped him just to be clear.

"When we're standing around BSing like that, do you consider it on the record or off the record?" I asked. James responded: "Ain't nothing off the record. I know everything that comes out of my mouth. If I say it, it's on the record."

Then, in another twist, LeBron backtracked on Monday morning.

He called subtweeting a teammate "corny and wack":

LeBron has a near-photographic memory. It'd be a mighty strange coincidence for him to use the same phrase as Love without knowing it. Love can opt out of his contract this summer. Losing him would be the worst-case scenario for Cleveland, which makes this worth monitoring, despite how absurd it's becoming.