While most young players grew up idolising LeBron James, one man who never loved him as a player was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
“I never liked [LeBron’s] game,” he said on NBA.com’s Pass the Rock. “To me, when I was younger, he was just super athletic, I wasn’t that. He was 6’8”, and super strong and I wasn’t that either.”
Clearly, Gilgeous-Alexander meant no disrespect. It was more a case of not identifying with James because he never had the same physical advantages as him.
This is exactly why so many young players and fans strongly identify with Steph Curry, as his height and physique are closer to an average person’s.
However, these aren’t the first comments SGA has made about LeBron.
He has also spoken about James blocking his shot during the All-Star Game, and didn’t sound too happy about it at the time.
“He wasn’t playing no defense,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Then the one time I tried to get a dunk, he wanna play defense. I got something for that next time though.”
Shai’s Thunder are now set to play LeBron’s Lakers on Friday, although James will not be playing.
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