With all the talk in the news recently, between his new school and Trump’s tweets, it seemed fitting to make this week’s Art of Hating about LeBron James. He is possibly the greatest basketball player of all time (embrace debate) and greatest athlete of our generation, but he is also an enigma. Since he was 16 years old LeBron James has been a household name. He has been compared to Michael Jordan since the 10th grade and he has somehow lived up to it. That in itself should make him one of the most popular athletes of all time, but he somehow just isn’t.
Now I’m gonna preface this with the fact that I’m not a LeBron James fan. Not only that but at one point I was a severe LeBron hater. The past couple years I’ve learned to appreciate The King a lot more, but am definitely still not a fan. And this hate has nothing to do with his talent. I think LeBron is one of the best players of all time. However, he just seems to be missing something socially. Maybe it’s the fact that he was a high schooler on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Maybe it’s because he grew up without a father. Both would be understandable. But regardless of the reason, a lot of people are put off by LeBron James.
Wow look at our MVP pic.twitter.com/SnJnTa2kFy
— Becks (@BecksWelker) February 24, 2017
From his Instagram stories bumping to Kendrick Lamar, his flopping, the Vino chronicles, “as a dad,” and many other things make up the list of why people, including myself, dislike LeBron. I personally stopped liking LeBron after the first “Decision.” I thought it was ridiculous to make that whole spectacle about taking his talents to South Beach. However, he went and won a couple rings then came back to Cleveland and gave his city a ring. So how can you really hate on that? Well, the most obvious argument is that when someone is the best in the world at what they do, people are going to hate. Which is definitely a big part of it, but with LeBron it’s something a little different. Something I’ve never seen with another professional athlete. LeBron just really seems not to get it. He is an all time great basketball player, he does tremendous things for his community, but socially he just seems unaware.
LeBron will forever be regarded as one of the best basketball players of all time, but a lot of people will never look back on him with the love they had for Jordan, even though LeBron is a way better person than MJ ever was. Which makes the Art of Hating LeBron James one of the most complicated in sports history. A man that I, and most people, will never truly understand.
Read the other parts of the series here: https://hashsports.com/category/art-of-hating/
You may also like
