With appreciation for LeBron James at least trying to go there, it's not about the photo.
Perhaps more accurately, it's not just about the photo. Fixating on it is a deflection tactic for some who fervently want to paint anything a white man did before he was 30 as mere childish innocence (if only Tamir Rice or Emmett Till or George Stinney, who were all children, had been allowed the same). It also shows ignorance from others who haven't invested the time to read a thorough, well-told Washington Post story of how the past almost always ties to the present.