Iman Shumpert on Richard Jefferson saying it sucks to play with LeBron James: “To give it context, yes, it does suck…there’s a ridiculous amount of pressure that comes with it because you have to be in a win-now mindset every time you play on his team. He is always expected to be at the top…”
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And then you have to just stand in the corner and turn into a spot up shooter and watch him play LeBron-ball the entire season which is the worst part
I mean compared to being a professional athlete making more than 99% of people and not being in “win” now mode?
I would expect every athlete to be in a win now mode regardless. Granted some of those are less realistic
It’s a fair point for both the negatives and the positives. The mental aspect of playing winning basketball has always been underrated and that’s why certain role players stick around forever and always seem to be on winning teams.
He’s so good, he’s gonna be the anti Stephan A for many years. Wait until he tells this 30 years from now.
But can we move on from wherever is doing the clothes on ESPN????????!!!???
Creating narratives for Lebron.
Never forget:
“Everybody knows Lebron is a 4th quarter guy”
< awkward silence >
– Richard Jefferson in an NBA game broadcast where the Lakers are not even playing.
Why are we getting these random narratives lmao. Yes if you are playing with LeBron it’s automatically win now mode, always has been. And the players that bought in either got close (dellavedova, etc) or won it.
Imam acting like he would’ve been a superstar if he didn’t have to cater to LeBron is embarrassing.
If he rocked this hairstyle on the Cavs they would have won in 2015
“I wanted to win, but I wanted them to win and be a part of that as well.”
Jordan said that in his doc, and Lebron is the same way. And as Jordan also said, some players can play that way. Some can’t. LeBron wants to win, he wants you to win with him. Brady was the same way. All the Greats are. If you can’t handle that, don’t play with him.
The irony is that if Iman Shumpert never played with LeBron, he’d never have this stage to complain about LeBron
Some people play in the league to make money and be famous. Others play in the league to be competitive and build legacies.
These two things aren’t mutually exclusive. You can want to be a winner like LeBron and still desire to be paid what you’re worth, but some people just treat it like a job.
I think its privileged as fuck to be lucky enough to be in the NBA, make generational wealth, become a global celebrity, and still feel like your effort towards your performance and winning games is secondary in your mind.
It’s like, damn! If someone told me I could make tens-hundreds of millions of dollars, and all I had to do was try my best every day? My conscience would absolutely destroy me if I knew I was phoning it in and not constantly proving that I deserve this opportunity.
He’s saying this like it’s unique to playing with LeBron. That’s just what it takes to contend.
There have been lots of guys who are/were 20ppg players (real 20+ ppg players, not shumpert lol) that sacrificed when playing with better players in order to win a title. Glen Rice and Ron Harper come to mind. Plenty of other examples before then and since.
Valid
Honestly it probably ‘sucked’ to play with Jordan or Kobe too.
But ultimately they are winners.
You got to respect that.
Could he have displayed his leadership in a more empathetic and encouraging way so it wasn’t as mentally stressful for this teammates? Possibly.
But that’s not everyone’s style.
Damn this reminds me of some interview with a pro athlete where he said something like 90 percent (I could be wrong) of pro guys don’t even like what they do, they only like the money and lifestyle.
He is always expected to be at the top, he’s 40 years old and media dorks and some fans still act like if he gets eliminated in the playoffs he somehow came up short
He averaged 25, 9 and 6 in the first round against the Twolves, that’s better numbers than Steph averaged in the first round against the Rockets across the board, and fans with room temp iq tried to blame him for the Lakers going out sad as if that Lakers roster wasn’t a complete joke
It probably sucks for LeBron too.
Good words from the 2021 dancing with the stars champ
I couldn’t imagine dealing with the media and having every question be about him, I get why Kyrie wanted out
It’s weird because he talks about how he wishes he could’ve been allowed to go get 20 a game to get his game to another place, but he never even averaged 10 PPG. I like Shump, but this just goes to show a lot of athletes or NBA players don’t have perspective. Shump probably made more money playing with LeBron than he ever would have had he not played with him.
When money no longer matters, pretty much if you have 20M in the bank – which is generational wealth – I would think these guys really do want a ring. They’re all rich as hell. 50M for LeBron is nothing. Winning a ring is everything.
Completely off topic and zero disrespect to Shumpert – But am I the only one who finds it ridiculous, that on a Sports show – among his accolades they write “Dancing with the stars Champion” ?
Agree with his comments, but the dude was never close to a 20 ppg player, he just was never that guy. His game was perfect to be a role player with LeBron, I’d argue he maxed out his talent with LeBron.
Do Teague and Shump have beef?
Dunno why they haven’t hooked up on the pod, leavin money on the table
Jeff Teague said it best in one of his podcasts, “this dude makes 15m, this dude makes 11m, that guy makes 8m, you make 1m”. So basically, you have to hold back your game and give up an easy bucket and paas the ball to the highest paid guys so they can score. Lebron is the highest paid guy on all the teams, everybodies job is to get lebron open and pass him the ball. I would hate to play with him too.
Shouldn’t winning now always be the goal though? These people are basically admitting to being unprofessional losers.
Why can’t players like him just be the ones we listen to all the time?
“Dancing with the stars” champion…good gig!
iman provides some great nuance to ESPN.
is this what it’s like when you got some decent hosts? 😂
… shouldn’t you always be winning now? Like every game?
As a professional athlete that gets paid millions of dollars every year shouldn’t you already be in a “win now” mindset? Shouldn’t you expect that of yourself?
We’re not talking about chasing rings here, but some of these dudes get paid and forget the goal is to win a championship.
2010 to 2020 LeBron is an era unlike anything else. I don’t people will fully realize how many historic nba things happened in that time frame and how LeBron always the driving force.
Jordan, Kobe, etc. have had major pressure on them in certain scenario usually dictated by the game (heated rivalries, win or go home games, rings for GOAT legacy reps) but the pressure on LeBron for that time frame is unlike anything else for how consistent and intense it was.
Large percent of media and fans basically made LeBron’s success or failure the biggest story every year. The stakes felt at the highest level every year.
Anybody that plays on a LeBron team is expected to contribute to HIS legacy, that’s why it “sucks” for players it all about bron which is why he is throwing a fit now
To me, Shumpert is one of the most articulate former athletes. Whenever he voices an opinion, it always feels well thought out and makes me wish I had his level of knowledge.
2021 Dancing with the Stars Champion
Michael Jordan once said, through tears, “If you don’t want to play that way…don’t play that way.”
sustained excellence is hard as fuck
getting the first championship is easy for some, but getting that second one? how many guys has there been that looked like one ring was good enough?
playing with someone like lebron would probably suck for most and be a wake up call, this dude has been striving for greatness for 20+ years in a row, putting in work every off season, had different primes because he’s changed his game a few times along the way to keep at a high level
even in the nba there’s a lot of probably like all-star players that wouldn’t want anything to do with that, and as long as they still want to win that’s honestly more normal than not
lebron’s finals appearances run is insane to me, the physical and mental needed to keep playing so many games is crazy
Lebron also makes any team he’s on high profile. Which means scrubs like Shump get to have a post playing media career.
So much easier to listen to than Kendrick Perkins
It also sucked because LeBron was/is a bad teammate. He always blames his teammates, he has to be surrounded by top talent, forces teams to trade away players, never takes accountability, and is a huge prima dona. And then he forces the Lakers to draft and play his crappy son. He is an unbelievable ME monster.
LeBron is the worst teammate of all the greats in the history of the league.
No different than with MJ or Kobe
I mean are you not trying to win on Lebronless teams? Seems whiney to me. Ohhh poor me I had the added pressure of playing w/ an all time great
So these guys are saying they’re mentally weak?
Wonder if teammates of Curry think the same thing as he’s kinda the antithesis of the typical “I’m an asshole” champion.