LeBron James just ended a decade-long accusation! The athletic kid from Akron stood the test of time and became one of the greatest basketball players of all time, competing against multiple generations in his 21-year-long career. During this illustrious career, James had equally competitive players like Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant trying to overshadow his greatness. In the meantime, he had several emotions thrown to describe him, especially ‘jealousy’. However, the superstar squashed it with a simple social media update.

Despite being the ‘face’ of the league for almost the last two decades, he definitely wasn’t in the good books of the two big talking heads: Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith. Their names are almost synonymous with criticizing the superstar constantly. Bayless, who is famously known as the ‘LeBron James’ biggest critic’, has dropped the hammer several times, trashing his fourth-quarter performance.

On the other hand, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who is a certified Michael Jordan fan, continued to save MJ’s GOAT status by denouncing Bron for return. However, one thing is common among these two veteran analysts. They have managed to paint King James with a resentful perception towards Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant for the last decade. Even though LeBron James partly squashed it with the camaraderie, he showcased with other superstars at the Paris Olympics, he completely crushed it now.

The LA Lakers superstar changed his Instagram profile picture with an iconic snap of the three superstars in action from the Paris Olympics. It almost mirrored the image from the first Avengers installment. This simple move was enough for James to strip off the ‘jealous’ image painted on him for all these years. Before we get carried away with wholesome brotherhood, let’s take a look at the instances where these two analysts portrayed a resentful image of Bron.

“Poor LeBron James”- Skip the menace

Even though James won the MVP honor at the Paris Olympics, Skip Bayless didn’t hesitate to rub salt in his wounds. Following the finals, Bayless turned on his front camera and went on to rant. He said, “Man Poor LeBron James. Steph Curry just shot him right in the heart just stole the MVP right out from under poor LeBron. He was right there he was prohibited favorite.” 

Bayless deliberately ignored Bron’s monumental average of 14.2 ppg, 8.2 rpg, and 10.2 assists. There was no doubt that Steph lighted up the event averaging 30 points in the last two games and sinking 17 three-pointers, but James certainly didn’t seem resentful of it. At least by the looks of it.

On the other hand, we go back to 2018, the time when the Golden State Warriors ruled the NBA world. Steph and KD were at the pinnacle of their careers. There again, Skip had the opportunity to throw Bron under the bus with a resentful image.

It was the time when James made the move to the Lakers after hard toil at Cleveland. Bayless picked up Kevin Durant, and said, “This is highly amusing to me because now LeBron James’ legacy hinges on Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant will determine whether LeBron James sinks or swims with the Lakers. they’re going to sink because they’re no contender this year.” Now that we had instances of Skip throwing shades at LeBron, let’s get to the other big talking head.

Stephen A. Smith trashing on LeBron James

Even though A. Smith didn’t use the word ‘jealous’ in his analysis, he repeatedly addressed LeBron James, saying he was sensitive toward Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant’s success on his ESPN show “First Take”. Most recently, he placed Steph over LeBron on a ladder to find the talent next best to Michael Jordan.

Stephen A. Smith added, “When we talk about how great they were as players — well, LeBron had to go to Miami to get the title. And then LeBron went back to Cleveland to join Kyrie [Irving] and get Kevin Love from Minnesota in order to win in Cleveland. And LeBron had to get [Anthony Davis] to get to LA before he won the title in LA. Jordan stayed. Steph Curry stayed. They built around Jordan, they built around Steph Curry. That wasn’t the case with LeBron.” 

At the same time, he has questioned James’ legacy over Kevin Durant. The veteran once even went on to call Kevin, a better offensive player than Bron. He said, “I think that Kevin Durant is one of the greatest talents this game has ever seen… LeBron James can’t shoot like Kevin Durant and doesn’t have that kind of offensive firepower. If you’re asking me who I’d take offensively, it would be Kevin Durant.”

Apart from these comparisons, Smith, alongside other commentators, speculated that Bron attempted to assert his dominance in the league to secure the ‘face’ of the image, which seemed threatened by the growth of Stephen Curry.

Ironically, there’s an instance of LeBron admitting his jealously over KD. In an 2014 interview, way before GSW became a dynasty, Brin said, “I get jealous sometimes when I look over at KD and he’s like 16-for-32 (from the field) and then 14-for-34…I’m not much of a forced-shot guy…But there are games where I have it going, and then at the end of the game, I’m like, damn, I shot just 12-for-16?” Nevertheless, King James squashed it all with a simple social media upload.

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.