Lakers News: Former LeBron James Foe Explains The King's Haters

"People only envy what they can't be."

14-year NBA vet-turned-Showtime "All The Smoke" commentator Stephen Jackson recently caught up with Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson of Bally Sports to talk shop.

Jackson, a combo forward who played with the New Jersey Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, "We Believe" Golden State Warriors, Charlotte Hornets, Milwaukee Bucks, and Los Angeles Clippers, at one point spoke about All-Star Los Angeles Lakers power forward LeBron James with Robinson. The two were both on playoff-bound Eastern Conference also-rans in the mid-2000s, between Jackson's time on some chippy Pacers clubs and LBJ's tenure with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they never faced off in a playoff series.

"People only envy what they can't be."

-Stephen Jackson (@DaTrillStak5) on LeBron James hate ahead of his next career milestone

— Bally Sports (@BallySports) January 12, 2023

"I think the people who are on his back are, one, people who don't know basketball and two, they want to be him," Stack said. "They hate him because they want to be him. People only envy what they can't be. They don't envy stuff that they hate. They envy what they can't be. And they envy LeBron because he's so great. He's doing things that [have] never been done. Even with his friends, he put his friends in positions to be great." 

"And every basketball player, including myself, has brought friends from the hood along and tried to put them in [positions to succeed]. 'Bron is the only one to get it right, with Rich [Paul] and [Maverick Carter]," Jackson continued. "So LeBron is different, he's similar to MJ and Kobe. You'll never see another one of them. These guys were meant to be [once]-in-a-lifetime type of players. Anybody hating on 'Bron, they're just dying inside."

In terms of Jackson's Lakers relationship, he was a starter on the 2003 title-winning Spurs, and that San Antonio club knocked the mighty Shaquille O'Neal/Kobe Bryant Lakers out of the Western Conference Finals, ending their chance to be the first NBA club to win four straight titles since Bill Russell's Boston Celtics. 

Jackson's entire chat with Robinson is well worth a watch, take a look right here.