While LeBron James is certainly the greatest player of his generation and quite possibly the greatest player of all time, that doesn’t always mean he’s the easiest person to play with, as former teammate JR Smith points out.
During an appearance on the Game Theory with Bomani Jones, JR Smith got brutally honest about what it’s like to play with LeBron James, calling it “a gift and a curse” given the demands and the scrutiny.
“Honestly, it’s a gift and a curse with playing with Bron,” Smith said on the podcast, according to Fox News. “I love Bron to death and I loved playing on his team because, for me, I feel I thrived more under the pressure. But a lot of guys don’t like it because it can go one of two ways.
“It’s either, what did you not do to help him win? And, who else didn’t help to not help him win?”
It seems like a fair assessment of the situation, and it’s also fair to say that the two were generally successful together. While playing alongside James with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team made the NBA Finals four consecutive seasons, winning the 2016 NBA championship to become the first team ever to come back from a 3–1 deficit in the NBA Finals.
[Fox News]
