Former NBA guard Iman Shumpert shared his thoughts on Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James and his unique situation where he’s playing with his son Bronny in the NBA.
Shumpert implied that jealousy is why the elder James has had to deal with some flak since the younger James was selected by the Lakers in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft.
“‘Cause they ain’t in the NBA, and they can’t put they son there,” Shumpert said of the critics. “That’s why you mad.”
Shumpert then shared how jealousy can play a part in why people hate on others by referencing Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant.
Shumpert explained that players were mad at Bryant after his iconic fist-pump celebration years ago, seemingly in reference to when Bryant hit a shot to beat the Phoenix Suns in a 2006 playoff game.
“We was mad at Kobe for doing this,” Shumpert said of the celebration. “Why? ‘Cause Kobe got to shoot the shot at the buzzer, make the shot — his whole team ran over there — and he did exactly what Mike (Michael Jordan) did. We all wanted to do that. We did it in our backyard. It’s just Kob did it on the court, and it counted, so now, it was something for me to hate on. I was hating, but I realized why I was hating ’cause I wanted to do it.”
Shumpert also compared the situation between the elder and younger James to other professions, saying the same thing happens elsewhere.
While the younger James was not selected to make an impact with the Lakers right away, he has shown some steady improvement in his rookie season. Not only did the younger James spend plenty of time in the G League (and play well), but he put together some solid performances at the NBA level as well during the regular season.
Against the Milwaukee Bucks on March 20, the younger James played nearly 30 minutes and turned in easily his best performance in the NBA. He scored 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field (2-of-4 from 3) and added three rebounds, five assists and a block to his stat line in a Lakers loss.
Overall, he finished the NBA regular season averaging 2.3 points, 0.7 rebounds and 0.8 assists in 6.7 minutes per game. The younger James only appeared in 27 games at the NBA level.
One could also argue that the elder James, who is one of the greatest players in NBA history, deserved a chance to play with his son at the NBA level. The younger James was a legitimate NBA prospect before going to the University of Southern California, as he was named a McDonald’s All-American in high school before a heart issue derailed the start of his freshman season in college.
Hopefully for the Lakers, the younger James will prove the haters wrong and go on to have a productive career in the NBA.
