Transcription
The downsides of playing with LeBron James.
What's good, YouTube? It's your boy First We got. Let's get right into this video. Man's GOAT status will always be debatable. There is zero doubt about one thing. He's the most scrutinized NBA player ever. From the time LeBron was 16 years old, he was dealing with enormous expectations.
LeBron James has captured the attention of fans, scouts, and opponents. Nobody endured more media pressure and nobody had so many of their jerseys set on fire. And unfortunately that scrutiny spills over to everyone around him. Having LeBron on your team is great.
[music]
But it comes with tons of pressure because you are immediately expected to win and if you don't, [music] you're torn to pieces.
Honestly, it's a gift and a curse with playing with Braun. Like I I love Braun to death. I love playing on this team cuz for me I feel like I thrive more under the pressure. But a lot of guys don't like it because so it's always going to be that supporting cast of who's not doing what or who, you know, and if you not built for that, you not made for that. It's going to eat you a lot.
And while a lot of difficulties of having LeBron on your team comes from the fans and the media, some of it comes from LeBron himself. Coaches getting fired, cryptic tweets aimed at management, and the danger of getting traded by Li GM are always a possibility when the King's expectations are not met.
But are the downsides of playing with LeBron greater than other superstars? Is James really a [music] bad teammate? Or does this just come with the territory of playing with an all-time great? Well, it depends on who you ask and who you could
No, man. No. Steph Curry would never do this stuff. Steph Curry has been on the Warriors chilling, not getting GMs fired, not talking about trading away players, not whining, complaining. No. Compare him to Michael Jordan once punched Steve Kerr in the face during practice. Kobe was constantly berating his teammates if they didn't perform and refused to pass them the ball. Shaq wasn't really a sweetheart either. These guys were not saints. Yet, people rarely questioned their teammate skills because people from that era didn't care about teammates being nice to each other. And those anecdotes of heated practices only fueled the legend of Kobe and MJ as perfectionists and basketball killers.
But when it comes to LeBron, bro, it's a lot different though. Like when you're in the practice and you're acting like Jordan or Kobe, but this is the team you've been on your whole career. You know what I mean? Like you have a different type of pool. Like this is literally literally your franchise. LeBron James on the other hand, he's bouncing from team to team trying to set like, you know what I'm saying? Like he's not he has no home for real. So it's a little
Everything is under a magnifying glass, especially after the decision. During his first stint in Cleveland, LeBron was universally loved by everyone.
Gets it to LeBron for three for the win. Yes, LeBron James.
And he was viewed as a savior for the city that hadn't won anything in over 40 years. I always let LeBron know they love you right now. They love you right now. But please believe me, the first incident, the first time something happened, they are waiting, man. They're waiting, man. They're waiting. They're waiting, man.
But as the seasons went on and a championship wasn't won, the first haters started to appear. He's the fake MJ. He can't stand up to the pressure. The higher the expectations, the worse he performed. Why is he saying the hater? He just said facts. He He was trying to wear a 23. He did Space Jam. He got in ' 07 and 08. He started missing shots in the playoffs. He was getting left wide open. I don't see a lie here. The only game he really did good is when he was against the P where he like really carried was the Pistons, right? When he scored a 25 straight, so I don't see a hater.
Then when the King decided to take his talents to South Beach, um and this fall, man, this is very tough. Um and this fall, I'm going to take my talents to South Beach and um join the Miami Heat.
It was like he opened the gates of hell. Within seconds, he went from one of the most loved to one of the most hated athletes on the planet. Hey, there's no way you can possibly prepare for something like this.
And it all coincided with the invention of the smartphone, the rise of social media, something like this. The quit and the cheat the cheap. Wait, wait, what?
And it all coincided with the invention of the smartphone, the rise of social media, and the popularity of the debate shows. The NBA news cycle was running 24/7, and the main target was LeBron. The 2010 2011 Miami Heat were arguably the most hated team of all time and the Kings first game [music] back in Cleveland was complete horror.
I will never forget the Cleveland game. The first time we went back to Cleveland and that was the time where I looked at LeBron. I was like, "Okay, this guy's not he's not normal. He's really not normal." I've always said it, but I really felt it. But the hatred that I heard in the locker room and it wasn't just booze and it wasn't just I hate you. It was the look on people's faces. It was the things that was coming out of their mouths and like how raged they were like in anger that I said I will never forget this moment a day in my life.
For the first time ever, it seemed like LeBron wasn't [music] equipped to deal with the pressure and his unhappiness led to one of his first LA GM moves. After the Heat went 9 and8 at the start of the season, LeBron didn't trust their young and inexperienced coach Eric Spolstra and the King wanted him gone. James went into Pat Riley's office and asked the Heats president if he would fire Spo he's dead. What? No way.
Refused, believing that Spo was the best guy for the job. We got a great young coach here and I want to support him. Hope that he can um you know can grow like I did. And on top of getting booed in almost every arena and James questioning the coach's authority, LeBron's teammates had to get used to the fact that every bad pass, every missed shot was overanalyzed. Professional trolls such as Skip Bis are something that athletes have become accustomed to now, but back in 2011, this was still viewed as serious journalism and something that should be addressed. Bailis kept calling,
bro. The only trolls are the people saying that he's comparable to MJ. Why is he acting like Skip Bis is not speaking facts? I'm like, when I was a LeBron fan back in the day, I used to think that Skip Bis was just talking, but he's dead serious and he's telling the truth.
Chris Bosch, Bosch Spice. And it got so bad that Chris even went on Bayis' show to confront him. My thing is my family, we take a lot of pride in our name. I don't like it being made fun of.
Bosch used to dominate the paint [music] and was a 20 and 10 guy on the Raptors. But when he teamed up with LeBron and Dwe, he was forced to adjust and play in a limited offensive role, which is not easy for a star player. Still, the Heat made the 2011 finals. But LeBron played the worst basketball of his career. Shot clock down to seven. James, that's a travel.
So, what the the haters say earlier, the bigger the moment, the worse he plays.
To the delight of Skip Bis and all the online haters. [music] And as the pressure mounted, some of his teammates started to feel the wrath of LeBron. And nobody had it like Mario Chalmer's. Rio was a constant target of LeBron's yelling. And it seemed like as soon as he made any mistake, LeBron would yell at him or raise his arms in disbelief. [music]
But Chalmer's wasn't the only one who needed to adapt. Bosch and Wade had to change their game the most, completely transforming to adapt to LeBron. And thankfully for the Heat, it worked. [music] After two consecutive titles, the pressure decreased. They weren't booed anymore. Chalmer's [music] wasn't yelled at all the time and nobody was calling them bums on a daily basis. However, as soon as the Heat lost in the 2014 finals, it all came back with a vengeance and Bosch and Wade were called washed up after only one bad series. And that's the burden of playing with LeBron. If you're not shooting the ball well for two or three games, it's enough for people on social media to start calling you a bum.
You know why? Because when George when uh Pippen would do this and he would have a bad game, the goat would drop 40. He would just do what he need to do. You know what I'm saying? He would just step it up harder. But LeBron n saying he can't play.
And while Bosch and Wade were all stars accustomed to criticism, some of the younger players had never had that type of attention before LeBron's arrival. The LeBron James effect multiplies everything. And while your social media following may increase 10fold because you made an alleyoop to LeBron, so will your haters.
But after four finals appearances in Miami, LeBron decided to write the wrong. Man, bro, these Why is all the big media companies LeBron Glazers, man, this is crazy. The Clutch Sports or Nike must be owning all these. The Bleach from Bleacher Report nonstop what we're watching right now. Uh what else? even ESPN.
Vowing to bring a championship to Cleveland. And before he even announced that he was returning to the Cavaliers, Lu GM was already in full effect. I'm excited to lead some of these talented young guys. I think I can help Kyrie Irving become one of the best point guards in our league. I think I can help elevate Tristan Thompson and Dion Waiters. You'll notice that y'all know he said elevate Tristan Thompson. Y'all remember what Tristan Thompson got caught for? LeBron, is that the elevation we talking about? Super Soldier Serum.
LeBron never mentioned Andrew Wiggins or Anthony Bennett in that PR statement, and that's because he already knew they would be traded for Kevin Love, a move orchestrated with his blessing. However, [music] when the 2015 season started, the Cavs struggled the same way the Heat did when LeBron arrived. The new pieces had to get accustomed to playing together, especially Dion Waiters and Kevin Love. Waiters never figured out how to be effective without the ball and he got traded very early in the season. [music]
Love wasn't in tune with LeBron both on and off the court and that's when James posted one of the most infamous cryptic [music] tweets of his career aimed at Cale Love. But other than the misfit with Love, LeBron also never got on the same page with head coach David Blat. Throughout the season, James
I mean Braun, what do you expect, bro? This dude had a was having 30 30 games and then he joins your team and you forcing him to sit corner. Like who wants to do that?
Was the one who called timeouts and made substitutions. He openly barked at Blat after decisions he didn't like. He huddled frequently with assistant [music] coach Ty Louu often looking at anyone other than Blat. Still, despite all the turmoil and the injuries to Kyrie and Kevin Love. LeBron was by far the best player in the league. And other than Durant, nobody was even near his level. The Cavs made the finals and surprisingly they even won two games with Tim Feay Mazggov and Matthew Devadova as some of their key contributors. But even with 3613 and N from LeBron, the Warriors had too many weapons and they finally overcame the short-handed. Man, it's crazy how you just act like Curry didn't exist. Man, the Warriors had too many weapons. You realize that if Curry wasn't on this team, the Warriors would not have gotten that far. That was the unanimous MVP and you said the only person close to LeBron was KD. Come on.
The Cavs in six games. [music] After that loss, both LeBron and the Cavs knew they needed to make some moves. First, they fired head coach David Blat mid-season despite Cleveland having the second best record in the East. [music]
But Blat had no authority over LeBron, who openly disrespected and disobeyed him while Blat kept silent. Eventually, he lost the locker room and had to [music] leave. In his place came Ty Louu, who was LeBron's guy all along and who James wanted to become the head coach for months. And while the GM David Griffin wasn't especially keen on trading for Iman Shumpert and J.R. Smith, LeBron gave him the assurances that he would keep Jr. in check on top of the superstar power LeBron already had at the time. He made an unprecedented habit of signing one-year deals. All athletes wanted the long-term security of a multi-year [music] deal. But LeBron wasn't all athletes. Like a queen on the chessboard, the king was controlling and manipulating [music] everything, deliberately signing shorter deals to give him flexibility, earn him more money, and maybe most importantly, give [music] him leverage. At any given moment, LeBron could say that,
bro, he just wants to team hop and join the best situation. This is no goat. This is no top five NBA player right here. It's crazy because he like Curry is still was has still been the most paid NBA player. He's been on the same team and y'all got the same amount of rings, LeBron. You gotta go through all this stuff and you got the same amount of rings as Steph Curry. Same dude in your era.
He didn't want to stay in Cleveland [music] and that he'll leave as a free agent again. The threat of him leaving was such a powerful tool that GM David Griffin had no choice but to make moves like LeBron wanted. And at first, it proved to be a good thing. Lug GM got it right because both J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert played key roles in the Cavs route to the championship after they became the first team to come [music] back from a 3-1 deficit in the finals. But after the 2016 finals, LeBron signed another one-year deal with a player option. And he had more demands for his [music] GM. He first pressured the team to sign Tristan Thompson and later J.R. Smith to long-term deals. His strangle hold on the Cavs resulted in them forking over more than $130 million to pay Thompson and Smith, which hurt the team tremendously. Thompson averaged just seven points and eight rebounds in the three seasons after receiving his extension. And after averaging 12.4 points for the Cavs in the 2015 [music] 16 season, Smith recorded just 8.4 points per game in his next two years with James. And after they lost the 2017 finals to the Warriors, Kyrie decided to leave because he didn't want to live in LeBron's shadow. The
No, cuz he's seen what was going on. This that bro, LeBron is trying to control everything. That's why he's failing. Like
Cavs quickly traded him for an injured Isaiah Thomas and Jay Crowder. He's trying to control everything but himself. Why don't you get a jump shot? Why we avoiding Why are we avoiding getting the jump shot? Why are we avoiding getting the post moves down, the fundamentals down? Why Why we got to do everything else?
In a move that LeBron was never happy about to make it up to the king, the Cavs also added Dwayne Wade and Dererick Rose, but neither of those moves really worked. So, at the 2018 trade deadline, trying desperately to improve the team and please their superstar, the Cavs spent several draft picks and mortgage their future as nearly half the roster got traded. And even though LeBron did his part on the court, playing maybe the best basketball of his entire career during [music] the playoffs.
James up and under THROWS IT OFF THE BACKBOARD. OH, WHAT a perfect pass.
They couldn't get [music] past the Warriors in the finals. Jr. forgot the score in game one. Hill misses. REBOUND GOES TO THE CAVS. JR. SMITH BRINGS IT BACK OUT, THROWS IT TO HILL. HILL SHOT BLOCKED.
And LeBron's 51-point game had gone to waste, after which it was clear that this [music] team was already past its peak. LeBron had pretty much held the franchise hostage for years [music] with the unstated threat that he might leave. And as a result, the Cavs made desperate short-sighted decisions. Then to add insult to injury, in the off season, LeBron left Cleveland again, relocating to LA. And when he got to Hollywood, LeBron put on his GM hat [music] yet again. For the entire 2019 season, LeBron knew the Lakers wouldn't contend for a title. [music] And the entire time, the King had been flirting with Anthony Davis, sending cryptic messages through the media and on Twitter. The locker room vibe was noticeably off because Braun's teammates knew they could be getting traded at any moment. Also, the King's engagement on the court had been below par, especially on defense, where his effort and body language was disgraceful at times. At one point, Kyle Kosma had to push LeBron to play defense.
See what they got in what was a perfect example of a spoiled and uninspired superstar and the microcosm of the entire Lakers 2019 season. But then LGM finally got what he wanted and Anthony Davis was traded to the Lakers. And just like that, LeBron started playing defense and his body language improved. In their first season together, LeBron and AD led the
Le Diva Lakers to a championship, [music] and the best general manager amongst players was proven right once again. However, James would soon make the biggest mistake of [music] his GM career. After injuries to both AD and LeBron knocked them out of the 2021 playoffs, the Lakers felt they needed a roster upgrade. And even though they had the best defensive back court in the NBA [music] in Alex Caruso, KCP, and Dennis Shruder, they decided to move them all to acquire Russell Westbrook.
Stupid because LeBron wanted to play with him. Russ on the Lakers proved to be an abomination. Russ [cheering] nearly loses it with five WITH FOUR. RUSS, THAT'S WHAT I'M SAYING.
And this dude literally trade away his backcourt defense thinking he could add on another allstar that can be clutch when he cuz he know he can't be clutch. And look what happened. LeBron, this is why uh ladies and gentlemen, you got to control the controllables. LeBron is trying to control everything, dictate everything. And look what's happening.
And the Lakers are going to lose it. He took the ball out of LeBron's hands, killed floor spacing, and played the worst defense the NBA had ever seen from the highest paid player. During the 2022 trade deadline, LeBron took a shot at GM Rob Pelinka for not making any moves by praising other general managers, but it wasn't like Rob could really do anything. [music] Westbrook's contract was untradeable and the Lakers missed the playoffs, after which coach Frank Vogle lost his job. Fast forward to the 2023 trade deadline when the Lakers were heavily linked to Kyrie Irving who was seeking a trade out of Brooklyn. But after Irving signed with the Mavs, James posted three words that were aimed at Los Angeles's inability to get the deal done for Irving. Then after a year and a half, the Westbrook saga and suffering was finally
Bro, why like why are you being like this? That's weird. I don't know. That's to to me that's like feminine behavior, bro. Like you out here tweeting subliminals being around the bush. Like if you gonna tweet something out, Brian, you might as well say what it is. Maybe it's me. Come on, man. Over and grown man.
Rob Pelinka produced a miracle that actually made the Lakers into a title contender. However, during the 2024 deadline, LeBron was added again, posting subtle and not so subtle messages by tweeting an emoji of an hourglass on January 30th ahead of the February 8th trade deadline. He created another tsunami of rumors. Does James want to be traded? Is he twisting the Lakers arm to make a big move? Is he implying he might opt out of his 51.4 million player option for the 24-25 season? Unbothered, James seemingly enjoyed the drama. When asked if he wanted to clarify the tweet, he simply said no, because James is the king of using cryptic messages to his advantage. In fact, just a few days after his hourglass tweet, James poured gas on the rumors, responding to a tweet of an Apple emoji with a crown and the Statue of Liberty, leaving people wondering if he wanted to play for New [music] York. Then, he wore a NYX towel in a postgame interview the next day. But unlike the previous years and past GMs, Rob Pelinka didn't want to budge and tether around LeBron anymore. For better or worse, LA didn't make a single trade at the 2024 deadline, [music] deciding to keep their assets for the future. could handle, you know, LeBron coming to your team.
I didn't even know he had that Knicks towel. And remember, uh, Rich Paul said, "LeBron wanted to go to the Knicks, but they win a championship." So, he was legit thinking about this in 2024.
Then it it works out for you and it can be successful. The problem is everybody can't handle it. LeBron comes to your team, that's winning expectations. Ain't no four or five years process. Ain't none of that. The pressure is on. And if y'all don't win, he ain't the one that's going to be out of there. It'll be you.
During LeBron's career on three different teams, the organizations have traded 118 players and first round picks, which is a whopping 83 more than Michael Jordan. Some of it and Jordan got six and LeBron got how many? Four and six. Four titles and six losses. And Jordan six wins, zero losses. Come on, man. This is the most helped superstar of all time. to the point where they literally this a whole half this video is about him being a GM and a player. This is crazy.
And first round picks, which is a whopping 83 more than Michael Jordan. [music] Some of it is due to longevity as LeBron has played five seasons more than Jordan did. And some of it comes down to the modern age where picks and players are traded much more frequently. [music]
But like any great player in NBA history, LeBron will do whatever it takes to win. He puts his teammates on the biggest stages of their career and gives them every opportunity to be great. Nah, bro. This man is desperate. Like, yeah, you do whatever it takes, but you do that in the gym. You do that in the weight room. You do that when you getting up them reps for the basketball court. LeBron's not he's not doing whatever it takes when he should be. This is desperation
that comes with a lot of pressure, which doesn't suit everyone. Thanks for watching non-stop. If you like this,
bro. Uh, it's all right video. I mean, I let me know in the comment section how y'all feel about it. I feel like he had uh he brought up all the points though that were that were good. The downsides, but you know how the how these media companies be. They be putting their own little spin to it, acting like LeBron perfect or acting like it it's something is not. I ended up watching a Steph Curry video before this that, but half of it I didn't record. But I want to let you guys know this. It's kind of crazy how Curry doesn't get foul calls and he actually's never been top 10 like in the past decade he has been top 10 in free throw attempts. I'm starting to really think like not think I'm starting to realize the league really does go with narratives and it's to the point where I feel like the it's scripted in a way like it's scripted I feel like but not fully scripted like I feel like with the referees they they scripted with the referees about making certain calls but I feel like at the same time sometimes you can't like the referees can affect the game sometimes if you get what I'm saying But I hope you guys all enjoy this video.