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Zach LaVine in Twitter beef with fish restaurant that roasted him over big contract

Zach LaVine was minding his own business Sunday when a Baltimore seafood restaurant attacked his value as a basketball player on Twitter. (AP)
Zach LaVine was minding his own business Sunday when a Baltimore seafood restaurant attacked his value as a basketball player on Twitter. (AP)

The NBA always provides fertile ground for Twitter disputes. But even by basketball standards, the beef Zach LaVine found himself involved with on Sunday was bizarre.

LaVine, purportedly minding his own business on an offseason weekend, looked down on his Twitter feed to find a seafood restaurant from Baltimore taking shots at him over his new deal with the Chicago Bulls.

Zach LaVine signed big deal with Bulls

The Bulls gave LaVine a four-year, $78 million deal in July after the Sacramento Kings made an offer to the restricted free agent.

Jimmy’s Famous Seafood, which sits a 705-mile drive from Chicago, thinks that was too much money for the 23-year-old guard.

Seafood restaurant takes umbrage with LaVine’s contract

Things started innocently enough when a fan of the restaurant asked Jimmy’s on Twitter to open up a Chicago location.

Jimmy’s responded by offering to do so if Michael Jordan came out of retirement to play for the Bulls.

When the fan suggested that LaVine was good enough to justify a Chicago location, Jimmy’s saw that as a green light to slam LaVine over his new deal.

That seems unnecessary.

LaVine gets involved

The post caught the attention of LaVine, who responded kindly enough that he was allergic to shellfish.

Jimmy’s did not hold back after realizing it caught LaVine’s attention.

Ouch. Again, that seems unnecessary.

Then again, Jimmy’s may be right. LaVine is coming off two injury-riddled seasons, the latest of which saw him shoot a paltry 38.3 percent from the field in the 24 games that he did play. How the four-year veteran’s career develops is a bit of a mystery, and $78 million is more in the range of sure-thing money.

Whatever comes of LaVine, Sunday was a lesson in good business Twitter use by Jimmy’s. Start a social media feud with an NBA player, and you too can end up in the sports blogs.

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