Getty Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James.
Over the years, LeBron James has become a popular target for criticism. Ever since he left the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010 to former a superteam with the Miami Heat, he’s been viewed as a villain for many. Typically, his former teammates don’t go after him but Iman Shumpert isn’t afraid of the Los Angeles Lakers star.
Fresh off his win of Dancing with the Stars, Shumpert has been doing the media rounds. One of the most common criticisms of LeBron is that he popularized forming superteams when he joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami. Kevin Durant did a similar thing years later when he joined the Golden State Warriors. Both players have seen their fair share of criticism for their career decisions. However, Shumpert believes the rise of players forming superteams is all on LeBron. In fact, he believes that the four-time MVP affected the NBA in a negative way.
“Nah, it wasn’t KD,” Shumpert said on the Bootleg Kev podcast. “It was Bron first going to Miami. Bron knows he ruined basketball. … Me personally, I love the NBA for the loyalty that I thought was there. He basically knocked the fourth wall down. … He wasn’t supposed to do that.”
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LeBron Wasn’t First to Form Superteam
To say LeBron is the first player to join a superteam is to be ignorant of NBA history. For whatever reason, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen never get called out for joining Paul Pierce on the Boston Celtics. That “Big 3” was long before LeBron left for Miami.
Also, there have been many superteams throughout NBA history that just didn’t have to go about things the same way LeBron did. The Showtime Lakers of the 80s had three Hall of Famers in Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy. Had Cleveland’s second-best player been better than Mo Williams, LeBron likely would’ve stayed longer. Crediting the superstar for ruining basketball sounds like a bit of a stretch.
Shumpert Also Calls out LeBron for Flopping
It’s unclear if LeBron and Shumpert have a strained relationship but it’s clear he’s comfortable with calling out the superstar. The two played together for four years together and won a championship in Cleveland. LeBron even just recently praised Shumpert for his performance on Dancing with the Stars. Regardless of the relationship between the two, Shumpert wasn’t done blasting LeBron. He also called out the Lakers star for flopping.
“The worst thing we had against LeBron was like, ‘Bro, why you flopping?’” Shumpert said. “And literally, he started flopping cause he like, ‘Bro, I gotta get these free throws if these people getting free throws.’ He like, ‘Bro, I’m really getting hit.’ So he like, ‘Ah, I’ll sell it for you cause they can’t see it cause I’m so strong. Y’all can’t see me getting fouled.’”
This is far from the first time LeBron has been accused of flopping but it is notable that his former teammate would call him out.
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Former Teammate Rips LeBron James: ‘He Wasn’t Supposed to Do That’