There’s many myths about him perpetrated online by his legion of haters. Here’s a few I’ll debunk:
“Lebron jumps teams all the time”
Actually, Lebron has played for 3 teams in 20 seasons. This is the same amount that KG has played for in just as many years. If a player constantly ‘jumped’ teams it would be more than 3 in 20 years. Try again.
“Lebron is babied by the NBA and the media protects and loves him”
Actually over the past few years, Lebron has missed quite a few favorable foul calls for him.
Just recently, the refs missed a call for Lebron that would have won the game.
And the media certainly does not love Lebron like people think. In fact the media actively reports any former player or any superstar or any analyst saying negative things about Lebron and spreads it.
Here’s a few
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33664003/los-angeles-lakers-legend-kareem-abdul-jabbar-criticizes-some-lebron-james-actionshttps://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2022/03/30/lebron-james-wears-teams-out-four-years-lakers-brian-windhorst-get-up-espnhttps://www.complex.com/sports/iman-shumpert-on-why-lebron-james-ruined-basketballhttps://thesportsrush.com/nba-news-paul-pierce-doesnt-believe-lebron-james-is-better-than-him-when-antoine-walker-explained-the-truths-beef-with-the-king/https://basketballforever.com/2021/04/27/dr-j-explains-why-he-snubbed-lebron-from-his-all-time-first-and-second-teams-2
See whenever there is anything negative about Lebron from any past or present superstars or analysts, the media jumps on the chance and posts about it.
“Lebron is scared of the moment and isn’t clutch”
Lebron averages 33.5 PPG in elimination games and is 12–9 in such games.
Lebron has 5 buzzer beaters in the playoffs – more than any other player by a good margin.
Lebron also averages more 4th quarter PPG than Kobe does.
So it’s a massive misconception that Lebron isn’t clutch or is afraid to shoot the last shot. This is based on people who only watch highlights of Ray Allen or Kyrie Irving hitting the last shot and think that’s how every game was like. Lebron has had numerous clutch moments in his career from the 48pt special vs the Pistons in 2007 to Game 7 of the 2013 Finals to Game 7 of the 2016 Finals.
“Lebron hand picks his teammates to play with”
No, he can’t. Not only does Lebron not have GM powers – contrary to what people think.
https://theathletic.com/3549236/2022/08/30/jeanie-buss-lakers-lebron-westbrook/
Jeanie Buss has confirmed that Lebron does not run the organization like haters think.
Also, if Lebron could handpick any teammate, why would he pick guys like Bosh and Love? Cmon now. He would have done what KD did and teamed up with the league MVP. Jokic, Giannis, KD, Curry, Kobe, Duncan he would have tried to team up with those guys if he really wanted to handpick the best guys to play with.
“Lebron played in the weakest conference ever”
Here are the 50+ win teams Lebron beat in the East from 2011–2018:
2011 Celtics (56 wins)
2011 Bulls (62 wins)
2014 Pacers (56 wins)
2015 Bulls (50 wins)
2015 Hawks (60 wins)
2016 Raptors (56 wins)
2017 Raptors (51 wins)
2017 Celtics (53 wins)
2018 Raptors (59 wins)
2018 Celtics (55 wins)
So yes the East might have been top heavy, but it was no cakewalk. The Pacers, Celtics and Raptors in particular were quite formidable teams that Lebron had to go through and many of those series lasted 7 games.
“Lebron needed with a superteam to win”
Actually, this depends on what people mean by superteam. Do they mean playing with multiple all-star teammates? If so, then yeah he did. So did Russell, Wilt, West, Oscar, Kareem, Magic, Bird, Duncan, Curry, KD etc
Or do they mean guys that actually produced at a star level for Lebron? Because I’ll tell you this, Lebron only had a few guys in their primes when he played with them. 2011–2012 Wade/Bosh, 2015–2017 Kyrie/Love, 2020 AD, and that’s about it.
2013 Wade (playoffs): 15.9 PPG / 4.6 RPG / 4.8 APG
2022 Andrew Wiggins (playoffs): 16.5 PPG / 7.5 RPG / 1.8 APG
That’s right, Andrew Wiggins during the Warriors championship run had better numbers than Wade did during one of Lebron’s championship runs.
2013 Bosh (playoffs): 12.1 PPG / 7.3 RPG / 1.5 APG
2004 Karl Malone (playoffs): 11.5 PPG / 8.8 RPG / 3.4 APG
and 40 year old Karl Malone had better numbers than Bosh did during that same run.
So did Lebron really have a superteam all the time?
“Lebron choked against Dwight in the 2009 playoffs”
Lebron averaged 38.5/8/8 in the series and had a buzzer beater in Game 2 of the 2009 playoffs 2nd round vs the Magic. He didn’t choke. Nobody says Jordan choked against the Celtics when he averaged 44 PPG against them in 1986 despite getting swept in the playoffs. You can perform well and still lose if the rest of your team isn’t that good.
“Lebron is a poor defender and gives up on his teams”
Lebron was a great defender in his prime and even with the Lakers in the 2020 playoffs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PC28KS58xY
Lebron actually locked down Jamal Murray in the 2020 playoffs despite Murray giving PG/Kawhi a lot of issues in the previous series.
And all those clips of him ‘giving up’ is because Lebron can no longer spend as much energy on the defensive end as on the offensive end as he is much older now. If you look up any superstar age 35 and older you will find that they are not as intense on both ends of the floor anymore. Not Wizards Jordan. Not old age Kareem. Not old age Malone. Not old age Kobe. Not old age Dirk. Not old age Duncan. Not old age KG. None of these guys were carrying their team on offense while also being intense on defense past the age of 35.
“Lebron is a stat padder and doesn’t make his teammates better”
First of all, if Lebron really wanted to stat pad, he’d be playing for a shitty team and not playing with other all stars so he wouldn’t have to share the ball. He also wouldn’t be passing the ball so much. He also would be attempting a lot more shots. Currently Lebron has attempted 30+ FGAs only 33 times in his career. Wilt had 310 games of 30+ FGAs. Jordan had 132 games. Kobe had 109 games. Kareem had 73 games. Lebron – only 33 games. He would be shooting a heck of a lot more if he wanted to stat pad. Oh – and stat padders don’t go to 8 Finals in a row. Usually stat padders like Demarcus Cousins or Minnesota Kevin Love don’t make the playoffs. Or like T-mac and Bosh and post Shaq pre Gasol Kobe they don’t make it past the first round.
And the ‘doesn’t make teammates better’ is based on what? What did Kyrie do without Lebron? What did Bosh and Love do? Yes Bosh and Love’s numbers dropped when they played with Lebron and so does every other star when they become a 3rd option – see: Ray Allen when he joined the Celtics, Horace Grant on the Bulls, James Worthy on the Lakers, Klay Thompson on the Warriors, Manu Ginobili on the Spurs, Robert Parish on the Celtics etc when ur the 3rd guy on a ‘Big 3’ team then of course ur numbers are going to drop, that’s normal. There’s 2 other stars to share the ball with.
However, it’s important to note that pre-injury Wade, Kyrie and healthy AD didn’t see their numbers drop when they played with Lebron because they were 2nd options and 2nd options usually retain their numbers when they play with other stars.
“Lebron ruins teams”
People say this because Lebron causes teams to trade for superstars which loses them valuable draft picks or young talent i.e Wiggins for Love, Ingram/Ball for AD etc but the thing fans don’t understand is how valuable a championship really is. Like what did these teams do before Lebron? Lebron always wins a championship for a franchise 2 seasons after he joins them. The Heat had 2 more championships, the Cavs had their first championship and the Lakers tied the Celtics in championships because of those trades that Lebron wanted. That’s worth it. It doesn’t matter that the team’s roster was destroyed because winning a championship is the most important thing for a franchise. Over half of the NBA teams have NEVER won a championship. Unless Lonzo, Ingram, etc was going to be a Lakers dynasty you can’t tell me that it wasn’t worth it to get rid of them for a championship.
“Lebron takes PEDs”
Based on what evidence exactly? If it’s just based off of photos of when he was skinnier and then seeing him bulk up in a short period of time, it’s because he has different genetics than normal human beings. Wilt and Giannis were like that too. Plus the NBA is very harsh on drugs and has been since the Len Bias death in 1986. They wouldn’t make an exception just for Lebron that’s ridiculous.
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