"I've never seen so many people be so happy to see an athlete fail more than LeBron” - Anthony Edwards

[MoneyTalks41890]

I think the fact that almost all NBA players revere him should offer some perspective for some of the haters.

[The High Cyde]

I put the blame on dumbasses like Skip Bayless and Screamin A Smith, their brain dead obsession was way over the top, comparing him to Jordan since freaking high school and reveling whenever he fell short. But hey it generated clicks and got people to watch their platform, so mission accomplished I guess. The brain rot ran far and wide in the general public.

[UcanUwill]

Entire continent of Australia heard F1 fans cheering after Verstappen's engine broke down. Hard to find a guy who has as much haters as Max has right now.

[Tim_Hardawayy]

This is 100% because of social media and everyone, including people like me, having a voice online. This site came in to existence in 2000. High speed internet became common around the same time. Before that their was dial up. Before that you only had access to your local paper, Sportscenter, games on broadcast tv, and magazines like Sports Illustrated and Sporting News. People still disliked players, but they had nowhere to voice their opinions other than local playgrounds or gyms, school, work, bars, and other social settings.

Now you can multitask and complain about Lebron on your phone while taking a dump at your local Applebees.

Its mostly this. Even Kobe escaped it to a degree, if "Colorado" happened just a decade later he wouldn't be near as beloved as he is.

[Infinite Llamas]

As a resident Bron hater, just want to reiterate that it’s not really a generational thing. Jokic is amazing, Giannis had a great ring. It’s specifically and solely LeBron that’s especially lame, not everything post 2003

What about all the over the top hatred for Durant? Westbrook? Kyrie? Harden?

Seems to me thata specifically black American players that get targeted with extreme vitriol.

Curry isn’t hated though. Shaq, Admiral, Wade, Brunson, Maxey, DeRozan, PG, Vince, KG are all American born players of different skill levels that aren’t targeted.

It’s just that you managed to name 4 guys there that have done several things over their careers to annoy people. Kd super team jumping, Harden flopping, Westbrook stat padding and Kyrie weirdo.

[52-12-7]

Luka always does as Lebron was his favourite player growing up. Seems like a lot of the young stars in the league regularly give Lebron his flowers. It’s the 30, 40 and 50 year olds that never played ball but grew up on MJ and Kobe that can’t appreciate greatness when they see it because they feel insecure about their childhood hero’s legacy. Unfortunate.

It's important to remember that people who hate LeBron are a small but very vocal minority. He's revered by most fans and he has the respect and admiration of all his peers, young and old. As an example you'll have fans shouting he's a bad teammate or bad leader, when just about every single one of his former teammates have had nothing but positive things to say about him.

Small but vocal minority?? There are more people that hate him. One of the local radio station here in Oregon does nothing but mock the guy.

[NyKnicks1714]

Luka always does as Lebron was his favourite player growing up. Seems like a lot of the young stars in the league regularly give Lebron his flowers. It’s the 30, 40 and 50 year olds that never played ball but grew up on MJ and Kobe that can’t appreciate greatness when they see it because they feel insecure about their childhood hero’s legacy. Unfortunate.

It's important to remember that people who hate LeBron are a small but very vocal minority. He's revered by most fans and he has the respect and admiration of all his peers, young and old. As an example you'll have fans shouting he's a bad teammate or bad leader, when just about every single one of his former teammates have had nothing but positive things to say about him.

Small but vocal minority?? There are more people that hate him. One of the local radio station here in Oregon does nothing but mock the guy.

Riveting

[Chuck Everett]

There are just as many stans as there are haters. It's fun to see his stans in shambles when he comes up short. That doesn't diminish him being a 4 time champion, multi gold medal Olympian, all-time leading scorer and multi MVP.

Lakers have enough titles, let them wander in the wilderness for another 15 years before winning again.

[Jedi32]

Folks hate greatness, especially when they're not capable of it. A lot of great players have been hated on. I know it's easier said than done, but they should wear it like a badge of honor.

[nikster]

As a resident Bron hater, just want to reiterate that it’s not really a generational thing. Jokic is amazing, Giannis had a great ring. It’s specifically and solely LeBron that’s especially lame, not everything post 2003

It's really only because of Lebrons insane longevity that Giannis and Jokic could be considered the same generation. He had 4 MVPs, 2 titles and 4 finals appearances before Giannis was even drafted. Lebron won his 2016 title Jokic rookie season. And both Giannis and Jokic were relatively slow starters.

[jokeboy86]

Its cause of the Jordan effect. I grew up watching Jordan in the 90s and I dont think it can be overstated how big of a cultural figure he was and more than its ever been in the past we’re are in peak nostalgia mode in society.

To many people Lebron is the anti-Jordan in every aspect on the court or off the court and the entire way his whole career played out. Now some of the criticisms of Lebron are valid and some is self-inflicted by things he does but for a lot of people its the entire idea that he’s at Jordan’s level or above or the fact he didnt do things like Jordan that enrages some.

I think most of this is generational though in the same way in hip-hop how some generations are appalled that Jay-Z/Nas are compared to Pac/BIG or some in my generation hate when people compare Drake/Kendrick to Jay/Nas.

[EmpireFalls]

He is probably the most marketed and discussed athlete in American history and with that comes great polarization on both sides. The NBA is now discussed worldwide on social media, with blogs, think pieces, videos, podcasts, etc. constantly discussing the league and James in detail, on a scale that was simply not possible before the early 2000s.

He also has the hype factor with him being viewed as the best prospect ever, even in HS, and thus the added name recognition from Bush-era monoculture that guys like Giannis or Jokic would never have.

There were entire industries and careers (see, Skip Bayless and Brian Windhorst) built around discussing him for better or for worse. First Take’s rise to dominating daytime sports discussion was in no small part due to the lightning rod LeBron debates. And then there’s the Jordan thing. Jordan has hung over his career constantly like a spectre, constantly the measuring stick, constantly the comparison point, as the most famous and arguably most successful NBA player ever, with LeBron constantly compared to him.

I basically see him as a Rorschach test. He has simply played so damn long and done so many things that you can find enough to fit your angle. If you don’t like him, you have valid reasons for it, especially given that he has done a lot of things worthy of critique, most notably the Decision, but also off court comments and lies, etc. His personality, much like his on court performance, is not a faultless one. However he’s also done a million amazing things even as recently as this year worthy of praise. We all see what we want to see, I would say.

[zshawn10]

Well it's pretty easy, Ant: he whines, throws his teammates and coaches under the bus, begging/forcing teams to draft his son who is clearly not an nba prospect, the Dirk cough, hopping team to team and claiming he never joined a superteam, self proclaiming he's the GOAT and a king, his playstyle is pretty boring, probably taking PEDs, the whole book thing(constantly has a book open but gets defensive when asked a question about said book, just comes off as fake), taking his talents to South Beach, "Not 1, not 2...". That's just off the top of my head. Oh also never got in trouble for taking that car in high school for his mom supposedly

[OfficialRef]

What about all the over the top hatred for Durant? Westbrook? Kyrie? Harden?

Seems to me thata specifically black American players that get targeted with extreme vitriol.

I mean all those guys have done things that are fair to criticize whether it’s joining up to 73 win teams, antivax antisemitic rhetoric, being team cancers, whatever. I don’t think anyone is being judged particularly unfairly. Look at Embiid and Luka, they get as much hate as anyone else around. Embiid for being a dirty player and flopped, Luka for being a whiny ball hog

I mean, it's debatable but I think a lot of fans have a special weird love/hate thing going on about BA players.

Not just players look at coaches too...

[nikster]

Well it's pretty easy, Ant: he whines, throws his teammates and coaches under the bus, begging/forcing teams to draft his son who is clearly not an nba prospect, the Dirk cough, hopping team to team and claiming he never joined a superteam, self proclaiming he's the GOAT and a king, his playstyle is pretty boring, probably taking PEDs, the whole book thing(constantly has a book open but gets defensive when asked a question about said book, just comes off as fake), taking his talents to South Beach, "Not 1, not 2...". That's just off the top of my head. Oh also never got in trouble for taking that car in high school for his mom supposedly

The irony of using this thread to criticize him for something that hasn't even happened yet

[Sealab2024]

It's not that I dislike LeBron, I remember being the first in our little click to hear about this 16 year old phenom who's high school games were about to be on ESPN. It's that I don't respect a lot of the decisions he's made. Leaving for Miami, then only staying in Miami so long as everything was perfect and then deciding to go back to Cleveland, staying only as long as he had to and then more ring chasing in LA.

It's just weak sauce to me. It's probably not even LBJ's fault, I was raised with an NBA where guys stayed with their teams so long as their team was honestly trying to win. Sometimes even if they weren't. I don't respect ring chasing. I have a lot more respect for guys like Curry and Jokic who were a part of something from the ground up. Even Dame showed real heart in that you pretty much had to rip him away from Portland.

I love LeBron the player, not a fan of LeBron the man.

[Meeksology]

Without putting too much thought into it, I'm going Tiger Woods.

FLoyd Mayweather

[zshawn10]

Well it's pretty easy, Ant: he whines, throws his teammates and coaches under the bus, begging/forcing teams to draft his son who is clearly not an nba prospect, the Dirk cough, hopping team to team and claiming he never joined a superteam, self proclaiming he's the GOAT and a king, his playstyle is pretty boring, probably taking PEDs, the whole book thing(constantly has a book open but gets defensive when asked a question about said book, just comes off as fake), taking his talents to South Beach, "Not 1, not 2...". That's just off the top of my head. Oh also never got in trouble for taking that car in high school for his mom supposedly

The irony of using this thread to criticize him for something that hasn't even happened yet

Well let's see; Bronny averages 3 points a game and Lebron has told people he wants nothing more to play with his son so much so that in the recent Shams article, the Lakers are open to the idea of taking him to appease lebron. He's pretty much said if you want me, draft Bronny, again a prospect that would go undrafted if it wasn't for his dad

[Meeksology]

I mean all those guys have done things that are fair to criticize whether it’s joining up to 73 win teams, antivax antisemitic rhetoric, being team cancers, whatever. I don’t think anyone is being judged particularly unfairly. Look at Embiid and Luka, they get as much hate as anyone else around. Embiid for being a dirty player and flopped, Luka for being a whiny ball hog

I mean, it's debatable but I think a lot of fans have a special weird love/hate thing going on about BA players.

Not just players look at coaches too...

Forealz, I remember Nash getting so much love coaching during his Nets years

[LaLover11]

Admit it LeBron haters you guys are addicts