"I got killed for that" - Former NBA champion digs why LeBron James never struck fear like Michel Jordan in NBA players

Former LeBron James teammate Mario Chalmers shared his experience playing with the Miami Heat with the Big 3, where he won two titles in four years, addressing the comments that he previously made regarding James, on "The Big Podcast with Shaq."

The point guard out of Kansas played in Miami for almost eight seasons. During that span, he played with James. At times, the public got to see how Chalmers butted heads with the team's best player, which was a significant deal at the time.

Now that he's retired, Chalmers has appeared on different shows and podcasts to talk about his NBA life. Recently, he made a comment that caught everyone by surprise. He claimed no one feared James, unlike Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan.

In Chalmers' appearance on Shaquille O'Neal's podcast, he shared his experience after his statement about his former teammate. His comments start at the 13:30 mark.

"I got killed for that," Chalmers said. "When I first said that, people killed me, and I didn't think players really feared LeBron (like) they did Jordan.

"At the end of the day, Bron has been through so much that he wanted to be liked."

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When James arrived in Miami, everyone saw him as a villain. Although James embraced that label, Chalmers said that he still wanted to be liked by others.

O'Neal's co-host, Adam Lefkoe, pointed out that Bryant and Jordan only opened up to the public during their final years in the league. For James, however, he opened up to the public his entire career.

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Former champion shared that he feared LeBron James

While some players may not have feared LeBron James, there were a few who were afraid of playing against him. ESPN's Kendrick Perkins spoke about his fear of James during the Boston Celtics' 2008 NBA title run. At that time, James was only 23 years old and was a year off from leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to the NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.

"I kept saying to myself, I was like, 'Man, we're not getting past this motherf***er,'" Perkins said. "'He coming in here, and he gonna beat us. I can see it.' I was scared,"

The Celtics had an incredible run that year. They were a consistent threat in the Eastern Conference until James joined the Heat in 2010.

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