LeBron James once forced Coach K to end Team USA practice with powerhouse dunk

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James won his first gold medal for Team USA with the 2008 Beijing Olympics team.

LeBron James once forced Coach K to end Team USA practice with powerhouse dunk

Team USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski and LeBron James

LeBron James won his third gold medal at the Paris Olympics. It was his fourth Olympics trip with the first one finishing with an embarrassing bronze medal. That embarrassment led to a major shakeup of Team USA and the way it run the program.

One of the first orders of business was to appoint Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski as Team USA’s next head coach. Krzyzewski commanded a lot of respect for his accomplishments with Duke. That respect helped him deal with the superstars who were coming in to play for him.

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Along with LeBron James was Kobe Bryant and a plethora of other superstars. But a collection of superstars needs a coach that understands and unites them. In the early days of Team USA training, some problems were evident.

There was a practice where LeBron was struggling, and he was frustrated. Then he comes down on a fast break. He’s coming down full head of steam, I get picked by one of the bigs. Then he goes around and dunks it, I believe it was on Carlos Boozer. It was a powerful dunk, and then Coach K said, ‘All right, enough of practice, we’re good to go’.

Michael Redd said

This was Michael Redd, another member of the 2008 Beijing Olympics USA basketball team recalling the incident. He witnessed a frustrated LeBron James dunk on Carlos Boozer, after which Coach K called practice off. He had seen enough and was happy with the team. However, there seems to be something else to this story.

LeBron James’ frustration could be linked to former teammate’s actions

That dunk was after a frustrating sequence. Usually, when star players endure such frustrations, coaches either take the player out, or let them settle down. But LeBron James dunked on Carlos Boozer, and coach Mike Krzyzewski knew that should not continue.

He was aware of the history between the two players and preferred to stop it than allowing it to escalate. After all, Carlos Boozer was his former pupil at Duke and knew how he ended up moving to the Utah Jazz. It could be that James was about to take out his frustrations on the forward in that practice session.

It so happens that Boozer was a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers when they drafted LeBron James. He was developing well and was poised to become a leading starter. After the 2004 season, the Cavaliers released the forward to make him a restricted free agent.

They believed Boozer was going to sign a larger contract. But instead, he signed an even bigger deal with the Utah Jazz. By the time the forward and James again became teammates on this 2008 Beijing Olympics team, he was a two-time All-Star and saw his name on an All-NBA team.

It is possible Mike Krzyzewski knew James was upset since him and Boozer could have been the one-two punch for the Cavaliers. That combination could have helped them win an NBA title or two. But instead, James was leading the Cavaliers all by himself.

Carlos Boozer staying in Cleveland could have scripted LeBron James’ career differently

Had Carlos Boozer stayed back with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it is possible that LeBron James’ entire career graph could have looked different. From 2006-2010, James singlehandedly led his hometown team to five straight conference semifinals.

If he had Boozer as his partner in crime, they could have tried to win at least one NBA title. If they did win more than one, chances are slim that the now 40-year-old would have gone to Miami. Up until the 2014 NBA Finals, James was one of the favorites to reach it every time.

Who knows how many titles the duo could have won. Maybe then, James would have had equal to or more than the six NBA titles Michael Jordan. Maybe then, he could have become the undisputed GOAT of basketball. The entire basketball landscape could have changed had Carlos Boozer not decided to chart his own course.