LeBron James is a great basketball player—one of the greatest of all time. Anyone who disagrees with that statement can't be taken seriously. But he's also one of the most polarizing of all time, so many fans of the NBA, who have common sense and a genuine respect for James's ability and career, find they dislike him. I want to give reasons why.
1. This is unfair to LeBron, but one reason is that he is an athletic and physical freak of nature. You've heard this: "Of course he's good. He's bigger and faster and stronger than everyone else." Well, so was Wilt Chamberlain, Bo Jackson, and Lawrence Taylor. Envy and jealousy aren't particularly good reasons not to like someone, and it disregards the work great athletes put in to hone their craft. There are better reasons not to like LeBron, but there is no denying this is one of them.
2. LeBron has self-declared he's the greatest basketball player of all time. In a 2018 interview, LeBron referenced the Cleveland Cavaliers' come-from-behind championship in 2016, and he said that moment "made me the greatest of all time." At the 2022 All-Star Game, he doubled down about the 2016 comeback and said, "At that moment, I was like, I'm the greatest basketball player people have ever seen." In a Time magazine article, he stated there was "no question" he was the greatest. Well, there is a question about that, and though I'm sure many athletes over the ages have believed and expressed they felt they were the greatest—Muhammad Ali, for instance—I don't recall anyone else wearing patches on his or her uniform proclaiming it or being vain enough to use @KingJames as his social media handle.
3. LeBron made it to the NBA finals ten times in fourteen years...nine times in ten years. That is a testament to his greatness (and possibly to the weak NBA East), but it created fatigue for the viewers who became tired of watching him.
4. His political activism turned a lot of fans off.
There have been many instances, but I'm going to focus on two. The "Black Lives Matter" activism is one, and I'm going to ignore the belief the organization is a scam because it seems like money is mismanaged, diverted, and stolen in nearly all organizations. What bothers NBA fans is that 80% of NBA players are black, and we love them. I was thinking about my favorite NBA players over nearly six decades, and I came up with only two white players who were among my favorites. If there ever was a place where black lives matter, it is the NBA. I know...LeBron wasn't talking about the NBA, but the reason he is popular and well-known is because of the NBA—a place where the average American goes to get away from politics and doesn't feel racism—to watch great athletes compete. We love sports. We often hate politics. We don't want politics in our sports.
The second instance I will focus on is James's support of Communist China. In October of 2019, Houston Rockets GM, Daryl Morey, posted a tweet supporting Hong Kong civil rights protesters. China reacted by suspending broadcasts and pulling out of sponsorships, which financially impacted the NBA (and LeBron James). LeBron criticized Morey. Since LeBron often spoke out about human rights injustices in the U.S.—and it was factual that Chinese citizens experience civil rights injustices—it looked like James placed his financial interests above human interests. Many people saw that as hypocrisy, and they don't like him for it.
5. Fans don't like how James has "chased championships" by switching teams (four times now) and assembling all-star lineups to improve his chances. This has nothing to do with how great a player he is, but it begs comparison to the other players who are perceived as the greatest players of all time. Jabbar, Chamberlain, and Oscar Robertson played on more than one team, but they were traded. Michael Jordan played on two teams, but he came out of retirement as the Wizards' president of basketball operations and part-owner to play on a poor team. The others? Duncan, Magic, Bird, Thomas, Russell, Havicek, West, Kobe, Curry, Olajuwon—they played their entire careers with one team. Shaq floated around some, but people loved his personality, so he seems to have a free pass. One thing none of the other greats did, however, is have a prime-time television special to announce how they were leaving their hometown team to chase a championship. And how many championships did he say he would win in Miami? "Not one...not two...not three...not four...not five...not six...not seven..." Well, he won two with the super team that was created for him, and then he left Miami too.
6. The last reason I'll mention has to do with his play—his traveling and flopping.
This is a sampling. There are worse examples.
LeBron James will be 42 years old in December of 2026, and he'll be playing in his 24th season. He's had arguably the greatest career of any professional basketball player in history, and millions of fans will argue as a player, he is the GOAT (greatest of all time). Others will disagree, and it's not just because they feel someone is greater. It's because they have great reasons not to like him.
