Why do so many Lakers fans hate LeBron?

[thebigbird]

"Lebron-ball" is definitely a way to stat-pad in any scenario, especially if you're large enough to create mismatches... and I mean any scenario: whether you're on a good or bad team, whether you're playing with old or young guys, whether it's in the regular or playoff season, whether your team is winning or losing. At the end of the day, he still has less rings than MJ and Kobe.

As if Kobe was this unselfish, pass-first guy

LeBron didn’t get to play with peak Shaq, and yet he still has twice as many FMVPs as Kobe. There’s zero argument for Kobe being the better player. None. That argument ended years ago.

Kobe playing with Shaq hurt his FMVP chances.

Also Kobe didn’t form superteams in his prime, his prime years was wasted by the lakers FO, but those years made him Kobe and made laker fans fall in love with him. That was where the mamba mentality was born, out scoring a team all by himself because he refuses to give up.

Unlike Lebron who gives up the moment he is not able to front-run

Kobe raped a woman, blew up the Lakers when his ego couldn’t take being second fiddle to Shaq anymore, and then demanded trades until the Lakers got Pau Gasol. #MambaMentality.

[The4thHorseman]

"Lebron-ball" is definitely a way to stat-pad in any scenario, especially if you're large enough to create mismatches... and I mean any scenario: whether you're on a good or bad team, whether you're playing with old or young guys, whether it's in the regular or playoff season, whether your team is winning or losing. At the end of the day, he still has less rings than MJ and Kobe.

As if Kobe was this unselfish, pass-first guy

LeBron didn’t get to play with peak Shaq, and yet he still has twice as many FMVPs as Kobe. There’s zero argument for Kobe being the better player. None. That argument ended years ago.

Kobe playing with Shaq hurt his FMVP chances.

Also Kobe didn’t form superteams in his prime, his prime years was wasted by the lakers FO, but those years made him Kobe and made laker fans fall in love with him. That was where the mamba mentality was born, out scoring a team all by himself because he refuses to give up.

Unlike Lebron who gives up the moment he is not able to front-run

LeBron signed with the 17 win Cavs as a rookie. Kobe told the lottery Nets not to draft him cause he wouldn't sign with them.

Mamba Mentality happened when he missed the playoffs and then bounced in the 1st round the following 2yrs? Then publicly asked for a trade after just 3yrs of a 7yr deal? That's what you call it?

Hell, James gets **** on for missing the playoffs, winning a FMVP and then losing in the first round in his 16th, 17th and 18th seasons.

[Slim Charlez]

they won 20 championships think about it. a crappy title mostly won with mercenaries hardly counts if you win every other year.
hes not even a top 10 laker so its okay to treat him as a outsider and hate him. he holds little value to lakers franchise history.
a title is a title but its way different if you win as wolve or king compared to lakers. if your a laker, your expected to be a dynasty team. anything below is a failure. lebron is already is in 4th yr and won only 1 lakers would have easily won without him.

No they wouldn't have. The young core they had would be a middle of the pack playoff team at best, and it's not like stars were lining up to join the lakers before Lebron decided he wanted to live in LA. Fact is Dr. Jerry Buss isn't running things anymore, we saw them be a joke for about half a decade before Lebron arrived, and if people like Jeanie Buss, the Rambis's and Pelinka are running things they'll become even more of a joke once Lebron leaves.

Stars were lining up to join the Lakers, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George specifically wanted to force their way to the lakers before Lebron joined thinking he would form a superteam with them.

Both players declined, not wanting no parts of Lebron’s toxicity.

They wanted LA more than they wanted the Lakers lets be frank, George could've signed with them but opted to stay in OKC, even when Kawhi was in San Antonio there were murmurs that he preferred the Clippers over the Lakers. The fact is the Clippers have been doing things right for a lot longer than the Lakers have recently and Ballmer is an infinitely better and wealthier owner than Jeanie Buss. Don't be surprised if the Lakers go back to being the Knicks of the west when Lebron leaves.

[TheLand13]

Do you remember Lebron in 2010?

He had no clue how to win or build a roster. It was Miami who taught him to surround himself with 3pt shooters and to evolve his game past what it was.

His other option was what? the Knicks? They had nobody on the roster. Carmelo didn't get there until 2011. And even then.. 2010 was a different time. Bosh had already committed to being with Wade and Miami.


Lebron was not going to compete anywhere unless he went to form a superteam in Miami.

Where are we getting this "LeBron didn't know how to win" nonsense from?

Make no mistake about it, a lot of the things you have said about him in this thread are actually true, but him "not knowing how to win" is complete nonsense. It wouldn't have mattered if LeBron surrounded himself with shooters or not. He needed another all star player on his team and he never had that in Cleveland. Miami didn't teach him how to do anything. He just needed a better supporting cast, that's it. He could've went to Chicago instead and odds are he would've bounced the Heat out of the playoffs on a regular basis.

Not true, and I can point you to the 2011 finals.

Lebron crapped the bed in historic fasion. No other "superstar" in sports history has been shut down and humiliated like lebron was in 2011 by the mavericks. Little JJ Bare and Jason Kidd were shutting him down.

I'm a Heat fan, I know what happened. Riley made Lebron expand his game and learn how to post up correctly. He learned in Miami.

I was originally going to ignore your reply because I know about your anti-LeBron agenda, but my god this is a really bad take.

First off, JJ Barea and Jason Kidd weren't shutting LeBron down. LeBron's jump shot was gone and he knew attacking the paint would be pointless without drawing out Dallas's defense because one of the top rim protecting bigs in the league (Chandler) was down there waiting for him. And because of how Dallas ran their defense, that wasn't going to happen. There's a reason LeBron still managed to shoot 48% from the field despite his subpar PPG average. A lot of people like to claim LeBron wet the bed on offense, but in reality, LeBron was forced to pick his spots and be more selective with his offense, otherwise he'd just be wasting valuable possessions. This is exactly what the Mavericks wanted and it was something Mark Cuban has highlighted multiple times when talking about that series. What was LeBron supposed to do at that point? If his jumper isn't falling, then fair enough. But that doesn't mean at all that Barea and Kidd shut him down. That's just nonsense.

Second, I know for a FACT that you didn't watch the series, because if you did, you would have pointed out his defensive struggles, which, in my opinion, were much worse than his offensive struggles and a bigger reason for Miami losing that series. LeBron at that end did a lot of the same things he did on offense: stand out at the perimeter and watch things playout. We didn't see any of the defensive intensity from him from the previous series against Chicago when he guarded Derrick Rose or the series before that where he guarded Paul Pierce. He was complacent and just sat back waiting for things to happen. Jason Terry's most iconic moment in that series is the huge shot he hit over James in game 5. But what most people don't know is that Terry did that on a regular basis all throughout the series. LeBron just wasn't giving effort at that end because, for whatever reason, he just assumed everyone on Dallas outside of Dirk wasn't worth the effort to care enough about to the point where you need to be air locked on them defensively. I could think of other reasons, but I to this day will continue to criticize his defense, and that reason is the most damning one in my opinion.

Third, posting up wouldn't have saved LeBron in that series (2011). You think the things he did with the weaker OKC defenders was going to work against Dallas? You think he was going to be able to just back down and post up Shawn Marion so easily? Learning a post game isn't the only reason for LeBron playing far better in that series. OKC didn't have the same defensive scheme Dallas did. They were much easier to attack in the paint and they just weren't as in sync on that end as Dallas was. Another important factor is that LeBron was able to find his jumper again. He wasn't lights out from mid range or three or anything of the sort, but he was good enough from that area where he usually made OKC pay every time he shot the ball.

Fourth, and most importantly, even if all of the above is nullified and void... how on earth does any of it prove that LeBron doesn't know how to win? You think LeBron went into that Dallas series suddenly forgetting how to play the game of basketball? You think LeBron's issue was "man, I just don't know how to take it to that next level". Buddy, were you not around when 2007 happened where LeBron carried a much worse team to the finals after scoring 25 straight points against an elite defense? Were you not there when he dropped 45 points in game 7 against an elite Boston Celtics defense? What about the Magic series where he averaged 35 PPG on insane efficiency? LeBron didn't lose in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 because he "didn't know how to win". He lost because he didn't have the supporting cast needed to take him to that next step. Michael Jordan faced the same problem against the Pistons, that doesn't mean he "didn't know how to win". In that case, I guess you can claim he didn't know how to win when he couldn't get past the Magic in 94. LeBron struggled and lost in 2011 because Dallas was a team built and designed to stop a player like LeBron James from dominating, he was lazy on defense and he went cold from deep. That's basically all there is to it. Claiming "he didn't know how to win" is both lazy and simply not true.

[G35]

"Lebron-ball" is definitely a way to stat-pad in any scenario, especially if you're large enough to create mismatches... and I mean any scenario: whether you're on a good or bad team, whether you're playing with old or young guys, whether it's in the regular or playoff season, whether your team is winning or losing. At the end of the day, he still has less rings than MJ and Kobe.

As if Kobe was this unselfish, pass-first guy

LeBron didn’t get to play with peak Shaq, and yet he still has twice as many FMVPs as Kobe. There’s zero argument for Kobe being the better player. None. That argument ended years ago.

Kobe playing with Shaq hurt his FMVP chances.

Also Kobe didn’t form superteams in his prime, his prime years was wasted by the lakers FO, but those years made him Kobe and made laker fans fall in love with him. That was where the mamba mentality was born, out scoring a team all by himself because he refuses to give up.

Unlike Lebron who gives up the moment he is not able to front-run

Yes, this is what ring chasers and stat chasers do not understand.

Winning a ring is the ultimate prize in sports. But it is how you win the ring...when they say win by any means necessary, it is not by stacking the deck or going up against sub-par competition.

When Dr. J finally won a ring in 1983, he had been to three other finals and had come so close. It wasn't just the finals losses that hurt, it was the battles vs the Celtics that are so memorable. In fact, imo, the Sixers-Celtics are more of a rivalry than the Lakers-Celtics. The Sixers and Celtics battles were blood wars and it was a battle of attrition. Homecourt mattered, playing hurt mattered. When Dr. J retired the entire NBA honored him in every stadium. He was the first to get honored by all the home teams.

Other teams respected Dr. J because he gave everything and didn't quit when he didn't have stacked teams. He still beat the Celtics without having a stacked team in the playoffs. It took Magic Johnson to have the game of his life to beat Doc in the finals. Think about that...it took Magic Johnson and Kareem to beat Julius in the playoffs. Dr. J was class personified.

Watch on YouTube

When the Detroit Pistons finally broke through and won their first NBA title, it was after failure after failure in the playoffs. Twice in three years, the Pistons were knocked out of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics. Is there any greater failure in the playoffs than Isiah throwing the inbounds ball and having it stolen by Bird and passed to Henderson. How terrible must Isiah have felt after that game. They were tied 2-2 and losing G5 by one point...I can't imagine that feeling. I wouldn't want that feeling. But I am sure every Pistons fan hurt just as much as Isiah over that summer. That bonds fans to players. Not the wins...the losses...the failures...the could have beens. The Pistons conceivably could have won three straight titles. But those moments made those Bad Boy Pistons a special group.


The same thing happened with the Chicago Bulls; they lose to the Pistons in the playoffs three years in a row. The Pistons create the Jordan rules, the migraine game with Pippen. The Pistons walking off the court and only Joe Dumars shake the Bulls hands after they finally beat Detroit in the playoffs. But those years of losing helped create Jordan...without the Jordan rules...does Michael really build himself up to threepeat. Who knows. But those years of losing helped mold how Jordan became what he became.

Kobe comes along and he mimics Jordan and he constantly hears how he is not as good as Jordan and he is a replaceable piece in the Lakers threepeat. Even before that the Lakers twice lose to the Jazz in the playoffs, getting swept...Kobe shoots three air balls and he hears. Then Shaq leaves and everyone says Kobe would have never won anything without Shaq and the Lakers have to do a rebuild. Kwame Brown...Smush Parker...VladRad...those were some lean years that Kobe had to hold those Lakers squads together and make them competitive. Lakers fans appreciate all the sweat, effort, and determination it took to keep passing the ball to Kwame Brown.

So when Kobe takes these Lakers to three straight finals, winning back to back, beating the Celtics. Yes, you are damn right Lakers fans are going to appreciate that.

Then you want Lakers fans that have been around to appreciate a guy who ditches franchises, ships off all the young players, misses playoffs, makes all these demands and now has the team on the brink of irrelevancy because of his actions.

These Lebron stans have a huge blind spot in their field of vision. They do not understand the fan dynamic at all......

[PierceFan4ever]

Imagine winning only one playoff game in 4 years in front of the lakers fans in staples center to be called one of the greatest laker ever lmao

Lebron is toxic and not loyal to any team and makes himself to be bigger than the team he’s playing for so why should Lakers fans be all over him? Most bronsexual fans who became Lakers fans in 2019 are the ones always getting mad over Lakers fan who been following the team way before Lebron arrived.

[Curmudgeon]

Do so many fans hate him, in fact? The mods really need to crack down on slanted thread titles based on implicit negative assumptions, along the lines of "When did you stop beating your wife?" It's irresponsible to let threads like this get up to 8 pages. They should be locked immediately. Is RealGM a forum for adults, or not?

[AussieRules]

As if Kobe was this unselfish, pass-first guy

LeBron didn’t get to play with peak Shaq, and yet he still has twice as many FMVPs as Kobe. There’s zero argument for Kobe being the better player. None. That argument ended years ago.

Kobe playing with Shaq hurt his FMVP chances.

Also Kobe didn’t form superteams in his prime, his prime years was wasted by the lakers FO, but those years made him Kobe and made laker fans fall in love with him. That was where the mamba mentality was born, out scoring a team all by himself because he refuses to give up.

Unlike Lebron who gives up the moment he is not able to front-run

Kobe raped a woman, blew up the Lakers when his ego couldn’t take being second fiddle to Shaq anymore, and then demanded trades until the Lakers got Pau Gasol. #MambaMentality.

Tells me all I need to know about you. All because I don’t like Lebron I don’t have to like him dude.

[TokeBulls]

Do so many fans hate him, in fact? The mods really need to crack down on slanted thread titles based on implicit negative assumptions, along the lines of "When did you stop beating your wife?" It's irresponsible to let threads like this get up to 8 pages. They should be locked immediately. Is RealGM a forum for adults, or not?

Read this thread and you'll get your answer, lol

[AussieRules]

As if Kobe was this unselfish, pass-first guy

LeBron didn’t get to play with peak Shaq, and yet he still has twice as many FMVPs as Kobe. There’s zero argument for Kobe being the better player. None. That argument ended years ago.

Kobe playing with Shaq hurt his FMVP chances.

Also Kobe didn’t form superteams in his prime, his prime years was wasted by the lakers FO, but those years made him Kobe and made laker fans fall in love with him. That was where the mamba mentality was born, out scoring a team all by himself because he refuses to give up.

Unlike Lebron who gives up the moment he is not able to front-run

LeBron signed with the 17 win Cavs as a rookie. Kobe told the lottery Nets not to draft him cause he wouldn't sign with them.

Mamba Mentality happened when he missed the playoffs and then bounced in the 1st round the following 2yrs? Then publicly asked for a trade after just 3yrs of a 7yr deal? That's what you call it?

Hell, James gets **** on for missing the playoffs, winning a FMVP and then losing in the first round in his 16th, 17th and 18th seasons.

Lebron didn’t sign as a rookie, he got drafted #1 overall by his hometown team.

If Kobe was going to get drafted #1 overall by the Sixers he wouldn’t have manipulated his way into being drafted #13 overall by the lakers.

Not sure what argument you are making.

[AussieRules]

No they wouldn't have. The young core they had would be a middle of the pack playoff team at best, and it's not like stars were lining up to join the lakers before Lebron decided he wanted to live in LA. Fact is Dr. Jerry Buss isn't running things anymore, we saw them be a joke for about half a decade before Lebron arrived, and if people like Jeanie Buss, the Rambis's and Pelinka are running things they'll become even more of a joke once Lebron leaves.

Stars were lining up to join the Lakers, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George specifically wanted to force their way to the lakers before Lebron joined thinking he would form a superteam with them.

Both players declined, not wanting no parts of Lebron’s toxicity.

They wanted LA more than they wanted the Lakers lets be frank, George could've signed with them but opted to stay in OKC, even when Kawhi was in San Antonio there were murmurs that he preferred the Clippers over the Lakers. The fact is the Clippers have been doing things right for a lot longer than the Lakers have recently and Ballmer is an infinitely better and wealthier owner than Jeanie Buss. Don't be surprised if the Lakers go back to being the Knicks of the west when Lebron leaves.

George opted to stay in OKC because Lebron joined the team. My initial point still stands.

They wanted the lakers specifically, they settled for any team in LA as long as Lebron is not part of that said team. Anything to distance themselves from Lebron’s toxicity would do.

In retrospect they made the right decision. Lebron himself admitted that the clippers without Kawhi and George are a better team than a Lebron led lakers.

[payton2kemp]

lol whose the 3rd star you're getting. There is no way Miami wins anything without Lebron, he was at his peak, probably the second greatest player of all time. Wade was always getting injured.

this is such a pipe dream. What did Bosh/Wade do when Lebron lol?

Miami Heat fans can be funny. Some get a little too big for their team's boots and think they're fans of the Lakers or Celtics.

Wade had 5 minutes of fame when Shaq sabotaged Kobe's prime with that trade demand to the Heat, getting diddly squat back for the Lakers... then nada once Kobe got crewed up again. Then they had another 15 minutes of fame only because Lebron joined them, making that super-team with Wade and Bosh. "Miami rescued Lebron"? Lol, more like Lebron rescued Dwyane Wade and Miami.

the disrespect of Wade.... that post is despicable. Wade was a monster in his prime, put up one of the all time Finals performances in 2006 and was robbed of an MVP in 2009.

Wade had a short prime. Injuries slowed him down, are you saying Wade is better than Lebron? Lebron carried that team to those championships. Wade was good in the 2011/2012 playoffs but was average in the 2013/2014 playoffs. Heat would've easily won in 2014 if Wade played better.

[The4thHorseman]

Kobe playing with Shaq hurt his FMVP chances.

Also Kobe didn’t form superteams in his prime, his prime years was wasted by the lakers FO, but those years made him Kobe and made laker fans fall in love with him. That was where the mamba mentality was born, out scoring a team all by himself because he refuses to give up.

Unlike Lebron who gives up the moment he is not able to front-run

LeBron signed with the 17 win Cavs as a rookie. Kobe told the lottery Nets not to draft him cause he wouldn't sign with them.

Mamba Mentality happened when he missed the playoffs and then bounced in the 1st round the following 2yrs? Then publicly asked for a trade after just 3yrs of a 7yr deal? That's what you call it?

Hell, James gets **** on for missing the playoffs, winning a FMVP and then losing in the first round in his 16th, 17th and 18th seasons.

Lebron didn’t sign as a rookie, he got drafted #1 overall by his hometown team.

If Kobe was going to get drafted #1 overall by the Sixers he wouldn’t have manipulated his way into being drafted #13 overall by the lakers.

Not sure what argument you are making.

Nets wanted him 8th overall. He had the chance to be the starting SG for them, instead knowingly chose to come off the bench for LA. Sure being drafted first overall is great but you think Kobe stays loyal to the Cavs if he was drafted 1st overall as an 18yr old in 2003 hearing people criticizing him that he can't win a title after 7yrs in the league? Kobe did all the heavy lifting from 05-07 and wanted a trade. James did that his first 7yrs and left as a free agent. He never asked to be traded.

[Marty McFly]

It’s due to the LeBron/Kobe Rivalry that was really just a pissing contest over who was Mike’s true heir between fan bases.

[thebigbird]

Kobe playing with Shaq hurt his FMVP chances.

Also Kobe didn’t form superteams in his prime, his prime years was wasted by the lakers FO, but those years made him Kobe and made laker fans fall in love with him. That was where the mamba mentality was born, out scoring a team all by himself because he refuses to give up.

Unlike Lebron who gives up the moment he is not able to front-run

Kobe raped a woman, blew up the Lakers when his ego couldn’t take being second fiddle to Shaq anymore, and then demanded trades until the Lakers got Pau Gasol. #MambaMentality.

Tells me all I need to know about you. All because I don’t like Lebron I don’t have to like him dude.

I know that folks like to pretend that it didn’t happen because no one wants to admit to rooting for someone who committed such a heinous offense, but it very much did. To each their own, though.

[KyRo23]

"Lebron-ball" is definitely a way to stat-pad in any scenario, especially if you're large enough to create mismatches... and I mean any scenario: whether you're on a good or bad team, whether you're playing with old or young guys, whether it's in the regular or playoff season, whether your team is winning or losing. At the end of the day, he still has less rings than MJ and Kobe.

As if Kobe was this unselfish, pass-first guy

LeBron didn’t get to play with peak Shaq, and yet he still has twice as many FMVPs as Kobe. There’s zero argument for Kobe being the better player. None. That argument ended years ago.

Kobe playing with Shaq hurt his FMVP chances.

Also Kobe didn’t form superteams in his prime, his prime years was wasted by the lakers FO, but those years made him Kobe and made laker fans fall in love with him. That was where the mamba mentality was born, out scoring a team all by himself because he refuses to give up.

Unlike Lebron who gives up the moment he is not able to front-run

...what? Kobe playing with Shaq ruined his FMVP chances? Well yeah of course it did, but he wouldn't have been in the finals without Shaq what a weird thing to say.

[Hellcrooner]

there are exactly 0 LAKERS fans that hate lebron.

We want him to have success because it will add to LAKERS success.

of course that does not aply to Kobe wanking monks.
But those are NOT , LAKERS fans.

[BostonCouchGM]

they know in their heart the bubble championship is a joke, resent having to trade away all that promising young home-grown talent away, and they love Kobe and he exemplified Lakers basketball more than fraudulent Lebron?

[Goomba3666]

Kobe fans. They can't let go of a fake, TV puppet commercial rivalry in the late 2000s when the media was hyping up Kobe vs. LeBron as a 2 man race for best player in the league (as if it was actually a competition lol). One's the GOAT, the other is like a fringe top 20 peak guy.

They're an enormous, delusional stanbase that can't get over the fact that LeBron's better than their idol at every facet of basketball outside of free throw shooting.

They'll try to bullsh*t as if it has to do with LeBron's attitude, or "statpadding", or "GMing", whatever. But reality is they defaced dozens of LeBron murals before he ever played a game in LA. They've been rooting for him to fail from the beginning, most of them on this board went ghost after "their team" won the 2020 chip. Hell, half of dub nation is just Lakers defectors and that fanbase hates on LeBron relentlessly lmfao

Guess what, he is failing.

Missed the playoffs first year in the West.

Had strong arm New Orleans into giving up AD and have a covid-bubble title that no one takes seriously. Its not just Lakers fans that don't take the bubble year seriously. Giannis said the same thing, no fans in the stands, no homecourt advantage...no one is going to remember back on that year and take it seriously.

Last year had to make the playoffs with the play-in and get bounced in the 1st round and this year they are a play-in team again.

Three out of four years have been trash. Why should Laker fans be happy about that?

Insecure-ass Lebron-stans don't care about the Lakers and its showing right now. If you are a Laker fan you should not be happy about what is going on and the next 3-5 years. It will be trash and it is all due to signing Lebron.

The Lakers could have stayed the course with their young guys and develop a team that would bond with the fans. That is the best way.

Look at the Warriors and the bond their fans have with Klay, Draymond and Steph. They have had some struggles with injuries but the fans DGAF because the players stuck with the team and delivered. They brought three titles, they stayed with the team, there is no subliminal twitter crap about going to other teams.

Loyalty....a word Lebron-stans can't find on the stat sheet......

Harsh, but 10000% true.

[Goomba3666]

I'll tell you one thing - people who bring up Kobe's numbers in the 2000 Finals fall into one of two categories:

1) Expected Kobe to put up incredible numbers after being intentionally undercut & injured by Jalen Rose DESPITE him missing signicant time in that series.

2) Didn't watch the series (and probably don't watch basketball) but has access to the internet and basketball reference.