Over LeBron James’s long NBA career he’s had to deal with expectations and standards. As a teen already being proclaimed “King” by the media and compared to his Airness, LeBron has had to carry the weight of his actions. Being a superstar as an 18 year old isn’t easy, just ask Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, and Shia Labeouf. Every move being watched, every word being heard, and every play being dissected. LeBron has had to play to a standard no other basketball player has ever had to hold. Accolades or Accomplishments aside, just pure actions. Every miss is the end of the world, every make is down graded ( But he still ins’t Michael ) every ring won’t ever be enough. And still, he’s surpassed every expectation. Besides being one of the greatest to have ever played the game and deal with all of that, he also has to deal with the beef from fans and players. Stanley Johnson being the most recent player to fire shots off at Lebron, let’s take a look back through out his career to the other yahoo’s who have tried to do the same.
Deshawn Stevenson
The Wizards were LeBron’s earliest foals. In LeBron’s first playoffs in 2006, Cleveland beat Washington in a brutal six-game series, winning both Games 5 and 6 by one point in overtime. In 2007, the teams were matched up again, but an older, better LeBron swept a shorthanded Washington squad missing Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler. In 2008, the teams were matched up again, and DeShawn Stevenson had enough.
Earlier that year, the Wizards led the Cavs by two in a tight game. Stevenson drew the responsibility for guarding James on the game’s deciding possession, and James pulled up and missed a three. In the postgame interview, Stevenson stated his his opinions about James:
James said he wouldn’t respond to the criticism by responding to the criticism, saying that responding to Stevenson would be like “Jay-Z saying something bad about Soulja Boy.”
The point he was making was clear: Jay-Z is a legend of hip-hop artist, Soulja Boy had one really big hit that was mainly popular due to its corresponding dance actions. Jay-Z made The Blueprint, Soulja Boy made a song called Doo Doo Head.
DeShawn’s response wasn’t to deny his connection to a man who once made a song called “Doo Doo Head.” Instead, he embraced it. Soulja Boy came to the first game of the series in Washington wearing a DeShawn Stevenson jersey.
It didn’t work: LeBron scored 30 points four times and had a 27-point triple double in a series-clinching Game 6. Jay-Z actually recorded a diss cover of Too Short’s “Blow the Whistle” meant to defend LeBron and performed it at a Washington night club. Stevenson’s teammate, Caron Butler, was there, but left because he felt disrespected. Not only did the Wizards lose, they had a famous rapper perform a diss track at their expense at a popular club in their own city. The fields were burned, the earth salted.
Brandon Jennings
The Bucks squeaked into the playoffs in 2012-13, going 38-44. As a No. 8 seed, they were massive underdogs against the defending NBA champion Miami Heat, who boasted LeBron, plus his pals Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. In spite of this, Brandon Jennings saw his team winning:
Miami won in four.
Lance Stephenson
Stephenson’s job is to annoy people. He’s been doing it for a while. In 2012, as a second-year player who rarely played, he filled his role from the bench when faced off against LeBron. First, Stephenson made a choking gesture from the bench after LeBron missed a free throw:
“(I) try to talk to other players, but in a good way. Get them off their game a little bit but not being disrespectful. I just got out of hand one time, and I’ll never do it again.”
James didn’t like it:
“Lance Stephenson? You want a quote about Lance Stephenson?” James said after the Heat’s practice at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. “I’m not even going to give him the time. Knock it off.”
It wasn’t reported at the time, but Danny Granger claims the Heat went searching for Stephenson in the locker room after the game. Regardless of whether that story is true, Juwan Howard confronted Stephenson on the court before the next game, even though neither guy really played much.
Fast-forward two years, and Stephenson had a big role. In fact, he was the guy the Pacers primarily assigned to guard LeBron. And he was just as annoying on the court as off, coming to the height of his powers in Game 5:
Stephenson attempted to literally occupy space in James’ head by blowing air into it. It did not work. The Heat would end the series in the next game with a 25-point win.
Joakim Noah
I’m not quite sure what got into Joakim in the 2015 playoffs. He shoved a fan, ragged on Cleveland and everybody from there, and said this after getting viciously dunked on by LeBron:
There is no good response to getting dunked on, but ACTUALLY I HATE YOU is not a good one. The Cavaliers won the series in six.
Stanley Johnson
Stanley, Stanley, Stanley.
“I’m definitely in his head, that’s for sure,” Johnson said after a 107-90, Game 2 loss to the Cavs. “That’s for sure.”
“I could care less if I’m in his head or in his mind or anything like that,” Johnson said. “I’m just trying to play basketball. It’s up to him how he wants to react to whatever he does. I think I’m in a good place. He had a great night. He’s had a couple great nights. He made a couple tough-ass shots.
“He hit two 3’s, which is not, like, his norm. He hit a tough-ass turnaround on me, and he played really physical. I battled physical. He didn’t get any paint touches. He made a bunch of tough shots. So he’s going to have to go 40 minutes and make those same tough shots every game for them to do what they did tonight.”
“I wish he would just talk when [the game] is 0-0, not when he’s up 16,” Johnson said. “I think that’s more — that means something. That means you’re confident in yourself. You believe what you’re about to do. Don’t talk after you made a couple shots. Anybody can do that.”
Pistons lose in four.
Kent Bazemore
The Cavaliers are currently up 1-0
Michael Jordan
Even the great Michael Jordan has taken shots at LeBron! Let’s not kid ourselves, we all know Jordan has some sort of grudge on James, we all know he has a dislike for him. It’s what happens when you see a threat or when everyone throws your name around next to his.
We all know Jordan’s acolades, and the moment anyone gets compared to him gets shot down. Too bad these two couldn’t lace them up agaisnt one another.
