"The scariest Bron to deal with" - Former LeBron James teammate recalls most 'vicious' version of 4x NBA champion
Iman Shumpert won a champioship with LeBron James during their historic run with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. But for him, the scariest version of the four-time NBA champion was before they became teammates.
Shumpert said the 2011-12 version of James coming off a brutal NBA Finals loss was the scariest to deal with.
In 2010-11, LeBron James joined the Miami Heat to team alongside Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade. The Miami big three went 58-24 and got all the way to the 2011 NBA Finals before being defeated by the Dallas Mavericks.
"I think the best version I saw of Bron was – (do) you remember the year when that Dirk won? – that next year," Shumpert said on the "All the Smoke" podcast. "That next year, they came back, when him and D-Wade vowed to not shoot, not settle for 3s, and they played their whole first season and they wasn't shooting no 3s."
James was the NBA MVP in 2011-12 as he averaged 27.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Dwyane Wade was not far behind, doing 22.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg, 4.6 apg, 1.8 spg and 1.1 bpg.
"They was just attacking. It was vicious," Shumpert said. "I was like, 'Bro, what the f*** are we supposed to do with that?' I was, like, looking at the league, and they had Bosh going downhill, too. 'What am I going to do about that?' Like, 'What is that?' They're running fast. They big as s***.
"I'm like, D-Wade and Bron literally passing it back and forth and just downhill – downhill – the whole game. I feel like that was the scariest Bron to deal with."
Miami finished 46-20 in the lockout-shortened year and beat the OKC Thunder in five games in the 2012 NBA Finals, the first of four titles for LeBron James.
LeBron James is still as deadly now as before
At age 38, LeBron James is still one of the NBA's best players, and he'll come in next season as the oldest active player. Beyond the age, the four-time NBA MVP and the league's all-time scoring king is showing few signs of slowing down.
Reflecting on competing against James, Shumpert sees how his former teammate evolved his game to fit his age and today's NBA.
"That's what's crazy about Bron: Every version is scary now that I think about it" Shumpert said. "'Cause it's like even now, he can say, 'I'm done dunking on y'all. But you are still (fixing) to deal with my back to the basket.'"
In James' most recent season, he averaged 28.9 ppg, 8.3 apg and 7.1 rpg. The LA Lakers fell short of making it to the 2023 NBA Finals after losing to the eventual champions, the Denver Nuggets, in the Western Conference finals.