And Anthony played for the Portland Trail Blazers, in the West, the previous two seasons before joining James this season.

Wright gave kudos to Carmelo Anthony and Kawhi Leonard for their willingness to compete against LeBron James and not move to an opposing conference.Īnthony was the centerpiece of the Denver Nuggets for his first eight seasons before joining the New York Knicks of the Eastern Conference in 2010-11, while James led the Miami Heat and then the Cleveland Cavaliers. Over the last dozen years, if guys can't play with LeBron they run as far as they can.'. Show me you're not scared.'Ģ73 'You can say you're not afraid of a grizzly bear but if you see one walking down the path & you run in the other direction, then you're afraid. LeBron went East to West, so the league as a whole was like, well, if I wanna make the Finals, I can't be in LeBron's conference, so let me go to the other one. Wright continued: 'So, what was the moment? Oh. Kevin Durant, all that success out West, 'Let me go East.' Jimmy Butler, 'I can go anywhere I want, let me stay East.' Kyrie Irving, 'I can go anywhere I want, let me stay East.' James Harden, 'I've been in the West let me force my way.' where do you wanna go? 'Philly or Brooklyn, I don't care, somewhere out East.'' They can't play with LeBron, they run as far as they can.' 'Oddly, around 2019 something happened.

And what we have seen, for the league as a whole over the last dozen years, is guys run away from LeBron. To counter that, Wright may have produced a better counterargument, saying: 'You can say you're not afraid of a grizzly bear, but if you see one walking down the path and you run in the other direction, then you're afraid. Broussard said he believes players around the league respect LeBron James but do not fear him. On 'First Things First,' the issue was also raised, and another commentator, Nick Wright, quickly disputed NBA writer and analyst Chris Broussard's similar take. But JJ Reddick, a longtime shooting guard who recently joined ESPN as an NBA analyst, fired back at Smith on 'First Take,' dropping the 'I played against him' card to emphasize his point.

Smith may have started the conversation earlier this week. Do NBA players fear LA Lakers superstar LeBron James or not?ĮSPN personality Stephen A.

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