Marc Serota/Getty ImagesLeBron James is the most hated player in the NBA.
Whether or not it’s unequivocally true doesn’t really matter. Just the fact that the statement isn’t entirely laughable is stunning.
James may not have been the most beloved player in the league a year ago outside of Cleveland, but he was well liked. Who didn’t love those Nike puppet commercials, or the Powerade ones where he nails 100-foot jumpers.
Obviously just about everyone in Cleveland hates him, apart from that misguided fan at a Indians game. But what about the rest of the country, either basketball aficionados or casual spectators?
Here are 10 reasons why he may be the most hated NBA player around.
Jed Jacobsohn/Getty ImagesLong before “The Decision” irritated millions of sports fans, LeBron already had one PR-calculated habit that was pretty annoying.
Prior to Cavaliers games, James chalked up his hands, then tossed both hands and chalk into the air in a demonstrative, deliberate showcase of his grandeur.
If you weren’t a Cavs fan, that was probably annoying. James moving to Miami won’t change that one bit. (And, last week, we already saw him bring the chalk throw to Miami.)
As far as Cleveland fans, remember Jack Parkman’s “little shimmy” in Major League 2? Harry Doyle (a.k.a Bob Uecker) noted that the women of Cleveland loved it when he was an Indian, and it made them puke when he was with the White Sox?
Well, Cavaliers fans roared when LeBron splashed chalk in the air. They’ll do more than become nauseous if he does it when he returns to Quicken Loans Arena on December 2.
Marc Serota/Getty ImagesThe Celtics started collecting All-Stars back in 2008. LeBron took it to a whole new level this summer.
Maybe it doesn’t turn into a trend across the NBA, but we seem to be headed that way.
Teams hungry for a championship and/or star players wanting to join forces with fellow star players will have one simple end result.
A few teams, like Chicago, Boston, Miami, Los Angeles (no coincidence those are four of the biggest markets) become the haves, while more and more have-nots emerge.
That leaves a handful of cities with great basketball and two dozen markets with a poor product. That possible NBA future is a scary one and will have been set in motion by the LeBron move to Miami.
Marc Serota/Getty ImagesLeBron never openly claimed to be the heir-apparent to Michael Jordan. Donning No. 23 was a step towards that, however.
Now most NBA experts will say James’ game is more like Magic Johnson than Jordan’s, and he isn’t the type of selfish (selfish in good way) player that Jordan was.
Ever since the mid-1990s, fans, the media and the NBA itself have been searching for Jordan’s replacement. Harold Miner, Vince Carter, Kobe, LeBron. We’ll never find one. Even if Kobe or James turn out to be “better” than His Airness, they will never be the same transcendent sports icon.
Because LeBron won’t ever live up to that one particularly (unfair) expectation, he is going to seem like a failure. Therefore, all the hype will seem just that: hype.
Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesThe Big Three, especially James and Wade, are apparently really close.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but to go as far as having to play on the same team, that’s a bit much.
Is that really a reason to re-structure the entire balance of power in the NBA, spark a national debate and force (at least) one city to hate you forever?
Jordan and Barkley were friends and they would never join forces. What about Bird and Magic? Russell and Chamberlain? Probably not.
Marc Serota/Getty ImagesAs fans, we often forget that to professional athletes sports are about more than entertainment or tradition. For them, it’s a business and profession as much as a passion or livelihood.
To the average Joe, the difference between $125 million contract, and a contract that pays $35 million less, is lost while we fantasize about what we can buy with $90 million.
To a professional athlete who already lives the dream like, like James, the business side cannot be overlooked.
Hopefully, first and foremost, James chose the Heat over everyone else because he thought they gave him the best chance to win championships.
But he seemed to also heavily consider the business side of his free agency, meeting with renowned financial planners and negotiating “The Decision,” with ESPN.
That’s his right. By doing so, it sapped part of the romantic “love of the game” element to pro sports.
Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesLeBron only sort of implied that race was a factor in the negative press he’s received since leaving Cleveland for Miami.
His manager, Maverick Carter, started the rock rolling down the mountain. James just didn’t stop it. Doing so might have led to even more controversy.
Nevertheless, many people believe that he “played the race card” when he spoke on the air with Soledad O’Brien on CNN. That may or may not be true. He didn’t openly say that race was a factor, at least not in the same way that Carter did.
Still, complicating an already dicey issue with race—by his own fault or that of his manager—drew more negative attention to his free agent move.
Elsa/Getty ImagesSure, James has racked up a ton of great individual achievements, most notably consecutive MVP awards.
He pretty much single-handedly took the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in the summer of 2007 and his team posted the league’s top regular season records in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
But he has come up woefully short of a championship the past two season. And in last year’s conference semifinals, James did not deliver his A-game.
The most coveted free agent in sports history was a seven-year-veteran who never won a championship. For that reason alone, people might dislike James, the NBA or both.
Doug Benc/Getty ImagesAlthough he never made any promises, James strung Cavalier fans and the organization along for nearly two years.
Maybe he always intended to stay in Cleveland and the Heat just wowed him. Maybe he did just make his mind up the day of “The Decision,” like he said.
But prior to the Cavs’ 2010 playoff series with the Celtics, he spoke with such love for his (sort of) hometown and the organization, that his leaving would be fairly stunning.
So when when July 8 came and he did finally leave, he came across as “disloyal,” “disingenuine” or even a “traitor.” Accurate or emotional overreaction, perception is often reality.
Marc Serota/Getty ImagesJames isn’t responsible for every negative perception people have about him.
NBA fans outside of Miami might just wish James had announced their team’s name during the Decision, rather than the Heat’s.
Not every team was in the LeBron sweepstakes. But Chicago, New Jersey, New York, Cleveland and maybe a few others thought they had a good shot at claiming him for the 2010-2011 season.
Not being able to sign him may have ignited instant James-hate.
Larry Busacca/Getty ImagesESPN was bashed for a while because of the hour-long television special in July to announce James’ signing with Miami.
But James came off worse. It was his (or his advisers’) idea. Yes, the special raised money for a worthy cause, but is that really the reason James did it? Probably not.
James came off “all about me” in that hour long event and during the weeks prior as well. The courtship by other teams—cartoons depicting him, “We Are the World” parodies, etc.—were way over the top. “The Decision” was a fitting end to it all.
Professional athletes get too much flack for their million-dollar contracts and lavish and pampered lifestyle. Fans and owners deserve plenty of blame for shelling out most of those dollars and putting players on a pedestal.
But James and “The Decision” strongly reinforced the negative stereotype of the self-indulgent pro athlete.
