Lakers: Iman Shumpert Says That LeBron James Ruined Basketball

Does he have a little bit of a point?

It's a debate that has raged on across the NBA for the last 20-ish years. The idea of star players leaving their original teams to create a superteam has not been a huge hit with all basketball fans, but it's happening more and more frequently. The Lakers aren't quite there, but they do have a guy that was in the middle of that change in the game. 

In a recent appearance on Bootleg Kev podcast, former NBA guard Iman Shumpert talked about that transition across the league. And Shumpert points to Lakes start LeBron James as the guy that "ruined" the game he knew. 

It wasn’t KD. It was LeBron first going to Miami... [LeBron] knows he ruined basketball. He thought he was making it better. I get it. Me personally, I love the NBA for the loyalty that I thought was there. He basically knocked the fourth wall down.

James leaving Cleveland for the Heat was a huge deal when it happened. And e obviously went on to win a couple of titles down in Miami playing alongside Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. But Shumpert claims that was the start of it. 

Even when given earlier Lakers examples, Shumpert again downplayed it. 

Find me the year the top player left his throne and joined someone else? Closest thing was Shaq but Bigs have to pair up and Kobe was the juice. [LeBron] had no need and had all the influence. I can debate this all day.

It's not unreasonable to say that LeBron was the turning point for the league in that sense. The sense of loyalty to one franchise was certainly a thing in the league before, but you can't really blame players for wanting to win. 

After all, isn't that what the NBA is all about? If you're not playing to win NBA Championships, then why play at all?