There must be something in the water. Just weeks after Scottie Pippen claimed Michael Jordan ruined the game of basketball in his memoir Unguardered, LeBron James has been accused of the same crime by his own former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate, Iman Shumpert.
It would appear winning the 2016 championship title together hasn’t made King James immune to criticism from Shump. During the latter’s appearance on The Bootleg Kev Show, the NBA free agent offered a rather cut-and-dry assessment of James’ loyalty in the context of the super team era. Essentially, Iman Shumpert credits LeBron James for shattering the entire concept of franchise fealty, which had been an intrinsic element of basketball for decades.
“Nah, it wasn’t [Kevin Durant],” says Iman Shumpert, in reference to KD’s much-maligned decision to leave the Oklahoma City Thunder for the Golden State Warriors.
“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.”
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“He basically knocked the fourth wall down… He wasn’t supposed to do that.”
“Great business move for sure. But when you think about it outside looking in, I got people tweeting me right now, they’re literally talking about owners and trade.”
In the very same interview, Iman Shumpert would also provide some insight on why LeBron James “flops.”
“The worst thing we had against LeBron is, ‘Bro why you flopping?’” he adds.
“And literally he starts flopping because he’s like, ‘Bro… I got to get these free throws if these people getting free throws.’ He’s like, ‘Bro I’m really getting hit.’ So he’s like, ‘I’ll sell it for you since they can’t see it because I’m so strong y’all can’t see me getting fouled.’”
Despite all this, however, Shumpert did offer his respect for James as a player, teammate, and human being; in addition to expressing his belief that LeBron James is one of the best athletes to ever walk the Earth.
Check out the full interview on The Bootleg Kev Show here and the clip containing the discussion in question below.
