Toward the end of the regular season, amid the slump that would follow the Indiana Pacers into the 2014 NBA Playoffs, Roy Hibbert made comments about there being “some selfish guys in the locker room” following a loss to the Washington Wizards that set the internet on fire.
Months later we’ve found out who that particular teammate was and, surprise, it’s the one and only Lance Stephenson.
"After Stephenson missed out on the All-Star team, he changed. He started a bit of a personal vendetta against East coaches, wanting to personally send a message in those games, which took him further out of the flow on some nights, sources said. Overall, the team noticed a shift in Stephenson from a more team-oriented approach to a more self-oriented focus, where he started obsessing about his statistics. People within the team believed his upcoming free agency was also a motivating factor for Stephenson, who wanted to enhance his value, something he believed suffered when he didn’t get an All-Star nod.As a result, Stephenson started annoying his teammates at both ends. Not only did he start dominating the ball more — his assist rate dropped dramatically in the second half of the season — but he was robbing numbers from his teammates. He has always had a habit of so-called “stealing rebounds,” jumping in front of or over a teammate who had an uncontested rebound to get it for himself. This phenomenon reached a new level in the back half of the regular season. Hibbert, who had his rebound totals heavily analyzed by the media and fans, was often a victim in these friendly-fire rebounds.Stephenson’s act had long worn thin by late March. When the players had meetings to address issues with the sudden struggles, Stephenson sometimes wasn’t involved. Occasionally he appeared to be unaware they were even happening. Most players on the team, now that they were losing, shared similar feelings about Stephenson, but did not vocalize their problems publicly."
We all knew that the comments were aimed at either Lance Stephenson or Evan Turner who had been acquired in a trade that sent Danny Granger to the Philadelphia 76ers, and there is little shock finding out it was one of the two. Stephenson’s game is predicated on show-boating and attempting to one up whomever is in front of him for how many minutes a night he’s on the floor. There are nights where he looks like the complete package, defending, scoring, and setting his teammates up perfectly, but he too often resorts back to the player that many loathe.
It’s hard to indicate whether Stephenson will return to the Pacers this summer. But if the riff continues between he and his teammates, those odds will skyrocket as another team hopes he matures as they shell out a huge contract, betting on the shooting guards potential.