Photo: Getty Images
NBA veteran Iman Shumpert believes LeBron James "ruined basketball" when he joined the Miami Heat in 2010.
Shumpert, who was James' teammate during his post-Heat return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, appeared on the Bootleg Kev Podcast to discuss his recent Dancing with the Stars championship and several other topics.
When Bootleg Kev suggested Kevin Durant "ruined basketball" by joining the Golden State Warriors -- who were 73-9 prior to signing the former NBA MVP -- Shumpert reminded him of James' decision to team up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh as part of the "Big Three" in Miami.
“It wasn’t KD. It was LeBron first going to Miami. LeBron knows he ruined basketball. He thought he was making it better. Me personally, I loved the NBA for the loyalty that I thought was there. He basically knocked the fourth wall down.”
Twitter user @ChefMaa7 responded to Shumpert's claim by tweeting "always been superteams" with a graphic showing past championship teams.
Shumpert quote-tweeted a response with, "Find me the year the top player left his throne and joined someone else? Closest thing was Shaq[uille O'Neal] but Bigs have to pair up and Kobe [Bryant] was the juice.Bron had no need and had all the influence. I can debate this all day."
James and Shumpert were both members of the Cavaliers' 2016 NBA championship team, which defeated the regular season record-setting Warriors 15 days before the franchise signed Durant on July 4, 2016.
Shumpert last appeared in an NBA game for the Brooklyn Nets on February 23, 2021.
James is currently averaging 26.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.6 assists during his 19th NBA season.