Former Laker, 2020 NBA champion on why it's hard to play with LeBron James
When the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA championship during the 2019-20 season, they didn't have an overwhelmingly talented roster outside of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But they did have a number of valuable role players who all chipped in to bring home the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
One of those role players was Danny Green. The veteran wing signed as a free agent with the Lakers in the summer of 2019, and his defense and 3-point shooting were sizable keys to their championship run.
But during an appearance on the "All the Smoke" podcast, Green said that playing alongside James wasn't easy. It wasn't that James himself made things difficult, but the superstar's legion of fans would be hard on him if he wasn't getting the job done (h/t Lakers Daily).
'He made the game very easy,' Green said of James. 'But…there are times where it's not as easy because there's so much pressure, even if you're wide open, to execute the play because you're playing with LeBron James. And that's more so on the outside than it is on the inside 'cause Bron ain't putting the pressure on you.
'But all the LeBron fans are like, 'Who's this bum? Why is he playing with — he can't make a damn shot.' You know what I'm saying? So, it's a gift and a curse, but he made the game easy, man.
'And it was a lot of fun learning from him early on, a lot of fun playing against him and then even better to play with him, and then it was the bubble, but winning the championship with him. It was great, man, so I couldn't ask for a better scenario.'
James has many devoted fans who are unquestionably loyal to him and will go to great lengths to defend him. Some seem to feel that such fans even have the tendency to blame others when things don't go well for James or his team.
In Game 5 of the 2020 NBA Finals, the Lakers led the series 3-1 over the Miami Heat and needed just one more win to wrap up the world title. They trailed 109-108 in the closing seconds, and James found Green for an open 3-pointer that Green missed, allowing Miami to win and send the series to a sixth game.
Although the Lakers won Game 6 convincingly, Green received death threats after missing the shot in Game 5 that would've concluded matters.
In the end, he received his third championship ring following that Game 6 victory. He had won it all the previous season with the Toronto Raptors and in 2014 with the San Antonio Spurs.
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