what’s the issue. Lebron fans don’t think having a winning record in Finals matter

What exactly is “winning basketball”? Because Russ was absolutely a winner for 82 games, and was a winner before KD left OKC and when he teamed up with Harden later.

for real lol. every time there’s a post about him off-court being cool or whatever, the comments are filled with guys yapping about “how can you hate him” “the criticism is so unfair” etc

it’s a fuckin basketball forum some of us are talking basketball lol

Its because theyre the same player they just dont complement each other

I don’t know man, he had some ugly interactions with reporters on an almost nightly basis when playing with us that did not reflect well on his personality. Like these are people just doing their jobs asking mostly ordinary questions just getting itched out by Russ because he was frustrated at his own level of play. Also him dancing on the grave of Frank Vogel right after he was fired because of Russ (and Pelinka’s atrocious roster building ability) will always have left a sour taste in my mouth personally.

If you Mock his name in the process, that’s insulting and disrespectful AF and during his time on the Lakers, damn near everyone was doing that.

He can hate playing with him (due to Westbrook’s dogshit play) while also acknowledging he wasn’t a bad teammate. Jesus some of you only see shit in black and white

Anybody who has played basketball before can tell you that liking somebody off the court isn’t the same as liking them on the court.

The person I meshed with best on the court is a total piece of shit who I couldn’t stand on the court.

Some of my best friends were awful to play with.

It be like that sometimes

He hated losing. The Lakers were ass with Russ. Doesn’t mean he didn’t like the guy, hell, LeGM is frequently flagged as one of the reasons they got Russ in the first place.

Is it really being a complete PR machine to not talk shit about your colleagues?

If there point in LeBron’s career that he didn’t care about the optics?

I think a lot of things can be true at the same time.

Lebron and AD wanted Russ on the team and the Lakers traded assets to get him. They thought that he would be a difference maker and would relieve LeBron of some of the playmaking duties.

Lebron and Russ didn’t mesh together and Lebron sought means to move on from Russ, even at the expense of both their reputations.

Russ has every right to feel slighted after all that. Thus, their previous friendship ended bitterly.

Russ didn’t do himself any favours with his play declining during his Lakers tenure.

Lebron can be sly, underhanding, and go into trying to manage the team with his own influence.

Lebron can be a good friend if you’re able to build that relationship with him as a teammate. If we consider KLove, Udonis Haslem, Dwyane Wade, and Austin Reaves as relatively stand-up guys, they must see something to remain friends with Lebron after all these years. They’re all independent enough from Lebron to not worry about his influence.

Lebron can be genuine in his congrats to Russ on his jersey being retired. Unless you want to believe he should say something else?

so you want him to say “yeah really fucked up I hated playing with Russ”

Yep. He knew where the leaks were coming from

Lmao all you armchair psychologists circle jerking and acting like you know these players personally.

Maybe It’s Me

Pelinka’s best sucks too. Being handed a golden Luka and the team still won’t win. Watch. 8th seed or playins this year

People eat this shit up

I’m gonna take the opinion of LeBron James over Reddit user ragtime_sam. But maybe that’s just me.

Well I don’t have any rings so ima just stfu

LeBron missed half the season he was a no show and left Russ out there alone. If LeBron would’ve played the other half of the season they would’ve made the playoffs and been fine

you just reminded me of this lol https://youtube.com/shorts/qoiHNjpFEls?si=UQFB-mrBX9K0Ut5i

“Happy to have shared the floor” doesn’t necessarily mean it was a good time, and clearly it wasn’t sunshine and rainbows. Not hard to imagine one future hall of fame player appreciating the opportunity to have played with another, even if it didn’t end up working out.