So, the internet is at it again. This time, the King himself is catching heat for... coding practices? Yeah. If you’ve been anywhere near Roblox Twitter (or X, if we’re being technical) lately, you’ve probably seen the memes. It’s a specific brand of brainrot that only makes sense if you’ve spent too many hours staring at a Luau script. People are claiming lebron james spotted using the second parameter of instance.new, and the dev community is losing its collective mind.
It sounds like a bunch of gibberish. But for Roblox developers, this is basically the equivalent of seeing a pro athlete wearing denim jeans to play a playoff game. It’s just... wrong.
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What the Heck is the Second Parameter?
To understand why this is funny—and why it’s actually a terrible way to code—we have to look at how Roblox handles objects. When you want to make something new in a game, like a part or a light, you use a function called Instance.new().
Now, the "correct" way to do this is to create the object, change all its settings (like its color, size, and name), and then finally tell it where to go by setting its Parent.
The "LeBron way" (according to the meme) looks like this:local myPart = Instance.new("Part", workspace)
In this version, that second part—the workspace—is the second parameter. It tells Roblox to put the part in the game world the very second it’s created.
Why This Actually Matters (The Tech Side)
Honestly, it seems like a time-saver. Why write two lines of code when you can write one? Well, Roblox engineers have been begging people not to do this since at least 2016. It’s a performance nightmare.
When you use that second parameter, you’re parenting the object before you’ve set any of its properties. The engine sees a new object in the world and immediately goes, "Okay, I need to calculate its physics, render its default gray color, and tell every player in the server that this thing exists."
Then, a millisecond later, you change the color to red. The engine has to do all that work again. Then you change the size. More work. You change the position. Even more work.
Basically, you’re making the server do ten times the labor it actually needs to do. If you’re building a small game, you might not notice. But if you’re trying to build the next Adopt Me? You’re going to lag the entire server into oblivion.
The Performance Hit Break Down
- Replication: Every time you change a property on an object that's already in the game world, those changes have to be sent over the internet to every single player.
- Physics: Placing a part in the workspace immediately triggers the physics engine to check for collisions.
- Visual Updates: The renderer has to draw the object, then redraw it every time a property shifts.
The Meme Origin: Why LeBron?
You’re probably wondering how a basketball legend got dragged into a debate about Luau optimization. It’s part of the "LeBron James Spotted" or "LeBron James, Scream if you Love..." meme format. It usually involves a low-quality image of LeBron looking confused, or a video of him doing something mundane while a narrator screams about his legacy.
In the Roblox version, the joke is that LeBron is a "noob" or a "script kiddie." It’s a way of saying that even the greatest of all time makes rookie mistakes when it comes to the DataModel.
It's sorta like saying "LeBron James spotted using light mode in VS Code." It’s just a way for developers to poke fun at a very specific, very common bad habit.
Is It Ever Okay to Use?
Surprisingly, there are a few niche cases where it doesn't really matter. If you're creating a Folder or a StringValue, these objects don't have physics or complex rendering. They’re basically just data containers.
But even then, most pros will tell you to just avoid it entirely. Developing "muscle memory" for the right way to code is better than trying to remember which objects are "safe" to parent early.
How to Fix Your Code (And Your Reputation)
If you've been "spotted" using the second parameter, don't worry. It's an easy fix. You just need to move that parent assignment to the very end of your block of code.
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Instead of this:local part = Instance.new("Part", game.Workspace)part.Color = Color3.new(1, 0, 0)
Do this:local part = Instance.new("Part")part.Color = Color3.new(1, 0, 0)part.Parent = game.Workspace
It’s one extra line. It saves your server's CPU. It keeps the memes away.
Actionable Next Steps for Developers
If you want to make sure your game is actually optimized and not just "LeBron-certified," here is what you should do right now:
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- Search Your Scripts: Use the "Find in All Scripts" tool (Ctrl+Shift+F) and search for
Instance.new(. Look for any instances where there is a comma followed by a location. - Refactor: Manually move the parent to the bottom of the property list.
- Check for Loops: This is the big one. If you are using the second parameter inside a
fororwhileloop, you are multiplying the lag. Fix those first. - Use task.wait(): If you're worried about things not appearing fast enough, make sure you're using the
tasklibrary for better timing and threading.
Stop parenting early. Your players—and your server's memory—will thank you. Keep your code clean, and maybe you won't end up as the next viral Roblox meme.