Iman Shupert former Cavs player and LeBron James teammate made a huge claim that the King ruined basketball. Let us go through the inside story.
LeBron James’ former teammate at Cavalier – Iman Shupert was in a new interview on the Bootleg Kev podcast. While talking about the Cavs’ days with Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and LeBron James the topic of Kevin Durant pops up. Bootleg Kev suggested that KD ruined basketball by joining the star-studded Golden State Warriors.
But Shupert countered the point suggesting that it was when LeBron decided to join the Miami Heat in 2010 that changed the NBA landscape forever. Shupert said, “It wasn’t KD. It was LeBron first going to Miami. LeBron knows he ruined basketball.”
He further added, “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.” Shupert explained his point that he personally loves NBA for its loyalty; that he thought was there. But LeBron knocked the fourth wall down.
As per Iman Shupert, top-quality players should remain loyal to their franchise and fans and try to win the Championship ring for them. Many iconic players like Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, Kobe Bryant, etc were one-team players.
LeBron did return to Cleveland joining another and formed a team with in-form Kyrie, Kevin Love, and won the 2016 NBA Championship. Shupert was part of this title-winning team.
Did LeBron James ruin the Basketball by forming a super team?
People might have their views on this argument. Any player who joins NBA wants to win a championship for sure, it’s their aspiration and there is nothing wrong with it. Trades will allow the player to join a team, who has more chances of winning the ring – cause of the team dynamics and the players in it.
When any team, who possesses a minimum of 3 players, who can impact the game any given day, it will be a super team. Shupert claims LeBron joining Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh was one such example, which affected players’ loyalty towards their respective franchises. It also caused many star players looking to go in Championship potential teams.
But the idea of “Superteam” was well before LeBron’s introduction to the NBA. Many previous teams like the Bulls had superteam with Jordan-Pippen-Rodman. The famous “Showtime Lakers” had a superteam. In the late ’90s, the Kobe-Shaq pair had Fischer and Horry for the assists and scoring. Boston Celtics had a superteam with Allen-Garnett-Paul Pierce.
Many such teams were formed and won the Championship before LeBron decided to join Miami. So it can’t be blamed on James completely. And with young talented players coming in the game, making an instant impact (like Ja Morant, Anthony Davis did) many teams will have fair shot at the Championship.
Of course, the fans get more excited and entertained when two super teams battle on the court. So forming a superteam is not “ruining the basketball”, maybe a loyalty issue that bugs Shupert. Please leave your views and comments below. Also please check the full interview,
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