Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James has been as impactful as any player has ever been in the NBA, but in July of 2010, ESPN’s television special, “The Decision”, forever changed the NBA landscape.
LeBron James’ decision to leave his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers and join his fellow 2003 draftees, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, on the Miami Heat left a lasting impact on the basketball world. It was the first major occurrence where an NBA superstar left his team at the peak of his career to join forces with other All-NBA stars to form a league’s superteam.
Recently, a four-year teammate of James spoke out on his thoughts regarding what James’ 2010 decision did for the NBA.
“The person that ruined all of this was [LeBron],” Iman Shumpert said on The Big Podcast. “I felt like when [LeBron] made it okay for people to team up, it stopped making the star players have to come back with something added to their game.”
Did LeBron James And Super Teams Ruin The NBA?
Following the 2010-11 season, the Association has seen an array of superstars leaving their clubs to assemble superteams.
Some of the most notable ones have been Kevin Durant joining the 73-9 Golden State Warriors, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George forming a tandem in Los Angeles, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash teaming up with Kobe Bryant, and the trio of Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden in Brooklyn.
Though not every superteam has panned out, the normality of which it’s become has been a glaring concern to some like Shumpert.
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Shumpert was part of a Cavaliers team that went to four-straight NBA Finals with James but fell victim twice to the feared Warriors with Durant and Steph Curry — a dynasty that some consider the greatest of all time.
Loyalty in the NBA is slowly becoming a distant memory, and with how often players are leaving to join better situations, teams have looked towards free agency to quickly better their squad.
However, in recent years, homegrown talent has shown to be the best way to form championship-caliber teams as we’ve seen groups like the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics be led by players they’ve developed from the draft.