LeBron Doesn't Owe Anyone Anything
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NBA free agency has come and been wild. It is usually wild, but it feels a little wilder this offseason. There's been a ton of player movement. Some teams have gotten better and others are shedding salaries and starting their rebuilds. One particular player that has been in the conversation as of late is the great LeBron James.
James owes this league and the Lakers nothing at all. He has done so, so much for the NBA in his 20 plus year career. He is an all timer. He is, in my opinion, the second greatest player to ever do it. He should get to pick and choose whatever he wants for the twilight of his career. So, when I turned on "The Zach Lowe Show" the other day, imagine my surprise when Lowe and his guest were outright hating on him. I was absolutely shocked when I heard the things the two of them were saying about LeBron. And the sheer fact that they were trying to tamp down what they said by adding a compliment at the end of their takedown, that just made me laugh. They were basically demeaning James' decision to opt into the final year of his contract with the Lakers. They kept saying things about how he is old and this isn't his team anymore. Lowe's guest sarcastically called James "48 years old". Lowe never once said anything nice about James until he was done putting him down.
This was racking my mind all evening and into today, which is definitely my fault. But I have heard all the hate James has received his entire career, sometimes from myself, and this segment of Lowe's most recent episode just hit me weirdly. After much thought, I think I have landed on why Lowe and guest were so tough on James. It is Luka Doncic. Lowe has always, and I mean always, stumped for white foreign NBA players. He is married to a Bosnian woman and, even during his tenure with ESPN, he has never once said anything really poorly at all when talking about NBA players from there, all of whom are white. And when Doncic ascended to the level he is currently at, Lowe has become his number one supporter. He will go to bat for him all the time. Since the trade to the Lakers, Lowe has made it his mission to demean and drag down Nico Harrison and the Mavericks. He claims to never listen to interviews anymore, but he is consistent with his mockery anytime Harrison is on a mic. He begrudges people who trash Doncic for his lack of defense and ability to stay in shape. He won't hear it. And this all should have clicked yesterday when I heard him mention the age gap between Doncic and James. I should have known then that, at least in Lowe's mind, the Lakers are no longer LeBron's team, they are Luka's team and Lowe is rolling with that, dissenters be damned. So, it makes sense to me now why he, after years of defending LeBron, is now coming down on him so hard. He mocked his age. He said that the Lakers don't need to build around him anymore. He said that he thinks LeBron isn't in it for titles anymore. He basically dragged his name through the mud for about an hour and I was floored. Like I said at the top, LeBron doesn't owe anybody anything. He has put in the time, effort and work to make it where he is today. He has made billions of dollars for the NBA, the Cavs, the Heat and the Lakers. He has given people like Zach Lowe a place to throw his dumbass opinions out there willy nilly. Luka will never achieve what LeBron has achieved, Nikola Jokic will never be the player LeBron has been for 23 years. These guys don't have what it takes, they don't have the will or the want to do the things LeBron has done.
Zach Lowe should never, ever slander a player of LeBron James' caliber especially because he has never done a single thing at the level LeBron has with basketball. I was excited for Lowe to come back to the podcasting world, but since he has become a member of The Ringer, he seems to be just another Barstool hot take moron who doesn't think before he speaks, and that bums me out. I'm still going to listen to his pod, but maybe I won't for much longer if this is going to be his attitude moving forward.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.