"All the critics can shut up" - Hakeem Olajuwon defended LeBron James from his haters after he won his first NBA Championship

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"All the critics can shut up" - Hakeem Olajuwon defended LeBron James from his haters after he won his first NBA Championship originally appeared on Basketball Network.
After nine long years, LeBron James finally joined the NBA champions' club when he won his first title with the Miami Heat in 2012. Hakeem Olajuwon was among those recognizable figures who expressed his admiration for James' career milestone.
Everybody knows Olajuwon isn't one of the most outspoken NBA legends. However, he surprisingly silenced LeBron's haters at the time. Hakeem did not hesitate to call for the haters to stop and just give James the respect he deserved.
Olajuwon also raved about James' future in the league. He predicted it wouldn't be Bron's first and only NBA championship.
"Now, all the critics can shut up," the Hall of Fame center said of James after the Heat beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in the 2012 Finals.
"He's an iconic superstar, and he's becoming a legend," added Hakeem. "He will only get better. I think he will win many more championships."
Hakeem is honored to have helped LeBron
Before winning the chip that year, James flew to Olajuwon's ranch in Texas to work on his post-game and footwork. After watching James perform throughout the season, Dream could tell that the 1-on-1 training sessions they had in the summer paid off.
Olajuwon was impressed with how LeBron applied everything he learned and led the Heat to another championship. That being said, Hakeem also considered James' success personally fulfilling.
"I'm just so happy for him," Olajuwon said of James' first NBA title. "It's so well deserved. It's so special. I feel so proud to have contributed to his career."
"I just tried to tell him to rely on some of the things we had gone over," Hakeem revealed. "There were so many times when it looked like they might not get out of a series, but he had that determination and confidence level to overcome that."Hakeem shut down the MJ vs. LeBron debate
Even before James won his first NBA championship, people had already been comparing him to the one and only Michael Jordan. They are widely regarded as the top two NBA GOAT candidates, but others felt (and still feel) like LBJ had yet to reach MJ's level.
For Olajuwon, who faced Jordan during his playing years in the league, none of these MJ vs. LeBron comparisons and debates make sense. Though Dream believes Jordan is indeed in a class of his own, he argues that James was also able to carve his own path in the game.
"When people start comparing him with Jordan, then that's not a fair comparison. Jordan was a far more superior player in a very, very tough league, and very, very creative," the two-time NBA champion once told CNBC's Worldwide Exchange.
"That's not taking away anything from LeBron because he is a great player, but it is not a fair comparison because Jordan is a far superior player."
Hakeem turned out to be right about LeBron. He continued to dominate the league and won three more championships since 2012.
Today, James has undoubtedly cemented his legacy, but to receive such praise from Olajuwon back then meant a lot to his career. It did not only serve as a powerful testament to his greatness but also to the hard work he put in to help his team win season after season.This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 29, 2025, where it first appeared.