During a recent edition of the Mind the Game podcast, Los Angeles Lakers superstar forward LeBron James recently addressed critics who have mentioned how he does not have a ‘bag.’ James talked about how when he was growing up, it was about reaching a spot in the fewest amount of dribbles necessary, but he acknowledged how he always sees the narrative about his lack of a proverbial ‘bag’ on social media. Yet he also mentioned how he is “sitting here with 50 billion points” as the all-time leading scorer in the National Basketball Association. Dan Patrick found it more remarkable that James has been able to score 42,184 career points despite the absence of a ‘bag,’ raising the point early on Tuesday’s episode of the Dan Patrick Show while interviewing Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo.
Patrick asked whether Russo could remember someone being criticized to such a magnitude as James has throughout his career. Furthermore, he reminisced on how Tom Brady was criticized a considerable amount but feels that “there seems to be a downright hatred for LeBron.” Through 22 years competing in the NBA, James has won four NBA championships, four MVP awards and has the most All-NBA selections in league history.
“There’s jealousy because he was such a phenom out of high school,” Russo said. “I think there’s jealousy because he was anointed the next Jordan right away, and that bothered people. Obviously going away – the way he went to Miami and joining Miami didn’t – that was an issue too, but he’s always stayed out of trouble. He’s never gotten himself in any kind of hot water off the court per se, he gives you everything he’s got.”
While Russo admitted that he would take James over Jordan, he also conveyed that James is an all-time player and was critical in the Cleveland Cavaliers winning a championship with a clutch blocked shot against Golden State Warriors forward Andre Iguodala. Earlier in the year though, James confronted ESPN First Take featured commentator and incoming SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio host Stephen A. Smith over comments he made pertaining to his son, Bronny.
The Lakers selected Bronny James in the NBA Draft and gave him playing time in the Association, but Smith addressed LeBron James as a father and claimed that Bronny was in the NBA because of him. This narrative continued with Smith describing what took place and his perspectives and James commenting on the matter while appearing on The Pat McAfee Show.
“The Stephen A. thing was weird,” Russo said. “He shouldn’t be that worried about what Stephen A. says about his kid, and let’s face it. They drafted Bronny because LeBron was a Laker. They never would have done that – they did it for LeBron. I didn’t love that either, and he probably shouldn’t have made a big deal about it.”
The third game of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers tips off tomorrow, and Russo explained that the league “needs some juice” amid low ratings. While the first game of the series came down to the final seconds, the average of 8.91 million viewers was the least-watched NBA Finals Game 1 since 1988 (excluding 2020 and 2021), according to Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch. Once Russo wrapped up his point accentuating the importance, Patrick gave a comment about the nature of sports networks before progressing forward with the rest of the segment.
“The amount of programming that Aaron Rodgers and LeBron James have been responsible for at networks is remarkable,” Patrick said, “that when they retire, there’s going to be some real soul-searching at networks to go, ‘Who are we talking about now? What are we talking about?’”
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