How LeBron James is Ruining His Own Legacy
Denial of the greatness in Miami Heat star LeBron James’ game is an exercise in basketball ignorance, or simple fan stubbornness (i.e. the few Cleveland detractors left who remember the summer of 2010 like it was yesterday). He is, far and above, the best player in the NBA and when everything is all said and done, he will certainly be one of the top five players of all time.
So why is it so easy to have a problem with him?
For fans of opposing teams, James’ success can certainly breed contempt. But that’s too easy; the vitriol directed at James is something stratospheric. Any superstar will have his fair share of enemies, but James has become the NBA’s villain while simultaneously wrecking everybody in his path in a way we have never seen before.
He should be celebrated, and is to an extent. But the problem is that he is ruining his own legacy – and nearly turns the NBA into an unwatchable product – by embracing the trend of flopping.
Flopping has infiltrated and infected the game of basketball, spreading itself all the way to the top.
This is the most infuriating part of the mystery that is LeBron James. At times, he is the ultimate crowd-pleaser. And one can simply point to the moment from this season where James giddily mauled a fan for making a half-court shot as proof that he is often wholly consumed by his love for the game. It is something we can all relate to and embrace.
But other times, James seems unable to understand that his words and actions are so often disconnected that it’s jarring.
In regard to his flopping, the easy argument would be, “Since everybody else is doing it, why can’t he?”
That’s fair enough, but LeBron James is an unstoppable freight train when he goes to the hoop. It’s hard to believe that anyone could knock him down at full strength, let alone with a minor forearm shove or technical-inducing push.
Yet, James continues to flop around the court, his laughable acting betrayed by replays shown over and over again.
More than anything, it’s just embarrassing. Besides Kobe Bryant, James is the player kids will want to be like twenty years down the road. He will be the definitive representative of this generation years down the road, when people talk about the all-time greats.
James should be above flopping. He should look down on it like the king he is, laughing at what those below him resort to just for impossible opportunity to reach his own level.
Instead, he downgrades his own abilities by sinking to this seedy level of basketball, and he – or anyone else – doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon, no matter what the NBA tries to do.
This isn’t a question of respect, because James is unquestionably respected and revered. He can repair any wrongdoing off the court by playing at an MVP level, but he’s building a dark chapter in his legacy by becoming unforgivable on the court as well.