As the NBA passes the torch with future Hall-of-Famers like LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant in the twilight stage of their careers, who will be next in line? The new face of the NBA has been pondered about for the last few years. The beauty of the question is that there’s no right answer for the unofficial title.
If anybody knows what it’s like to carry that responsibility, it’s James. Since he was 16 years old, the 40-year-old has been in the national spotlight. He’s dominated this era of basketball and has been the face of the NBA for two decades.
After Anthony Edwards said he’d rather not be considered as a candidate, James said it’s easy to see why the rising 23-year-old would think that. He used his comments to complain about the sports discourse surrounding the NBA since social media has taken over.
“Why do you want to be the face of the league when all the people that cover our game and talk about our game on a day-to-day basis s–t on everybody?,” James said. “To have that responsibility, it’s just weird. It’s weird energy.”
After James’ comments made the waves on sports talk shows and social media, he took to Twitter to double down on his cynicism. He even cited heated reactions to his comments as further proof of what he meant. In his rant, he said successful teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder should be covered more often and praised for their accomplishment this season.
James tweeted: “Let’s discuss how great OKC and The Cavs have been this season with 2 completely different styles and break down why and how they have.”
The Thunder have had a historically dominant season. They’ve run away with the first seed and have the league’s best point differential and net rating. What they’re doing on defense is historic and only a few of the league’s greatest of all-time teams have done.
Pair that with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP campaign, the Thunder should be talked about more often than to be skeptical of their chances to win a championship. Whether you agree with James, his words carry more weight than anybody else in the NBA.
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