Terence Crawford drops LeBron James truth among Lakers fans: “Didn’t even want him”

Terence Crawford voiced his opinion on LeBron James, illustrating how a big portion of their fanbase actually views their superstar talent.

Terence Crawford drops LeBron James truth among Lakers fans: “Didn’t even want him”

Being in legal hot water hasn’t stopped Shannon Sharpe from releasing content on his Club Shay Shay podcast. The ESPN analyst opposite to Stephen A. Smith on “First Take” hosted Terence Crawford as his most recent guest. Crawford gave a long and telling interview lasting a whopping 3 hours, covering a lot of aspects of his life. He was also outspoken about not wanting LeBron James to be a Laker.

Sharpe broached the subject of Crawford’s Lakers fandom during the interview. Born in 1987, the boxer from Nebraska grew up watching prime Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal threepeat. He rooted for the Lakers through the first 15 seasons of LeBron James‘ career, often a direct championship rival for a few of those. When Sharpe asked him whether he was a James fan or a Lakers fan, Crawford chose the latter.

I’m a Lakers fan, I didn’t even want LeBron on the Lakers. Why would I want LeBron on the Lakers when we were competing against him…What I’m saying is, when LeBron played for Cleveland and all of those Heat teams, we went against him.

Terence Crawford explained

Sharpe pressed him on the issue by asking him if he never wanted James and Bryant to be a duo. Crawford maintained the same stance, saying he ‘only wanted Kobe’. As a dedicated James stan, Sharpe then asked him if he’d rather have James on the team or not. Crawford beat him to the punch there as well, noting that ‘they would have had somebody else’.

The Hall of Famer attempted to retort to this, but stopped half in his track, possibly thinking about the Anthony Davis trade in 2019 and the recent Luka Doncic transaction.

What Crawford revealed about his Lakers fan mindset isn’t just his alone. A number of Lakers fans online have felt this way and have voiced similar thoughts ever since James first came to Los Angeles in 2018. Despite winning the city a championship, there remains a sizeable faction among the fandom which doesn’t truly welcome James with the open arms that Miami Heat or Cleveland Cavaliers fans would.

LeBron James put up a valiant 38-point effort with Luka Doncic off-color as the Lakers lost Game 3

Having another pair of nights off ahead of game 3 proved to be a double-edged sword for the Lakers. The break benefited LeBron James immensely, allowing him to recharge his batteries more after winning game 2. However, it also caused them to catch Doncic on the bad side of a stomach bug. The Slovenian was visibly off his best physically, working slower and with lower intensity than usual.

With Doncic nursing a dire condition, it fell to James to lead the team as its first option. The 40-year-old had some vintage moments as he totaled a game-high 38 points on the night. James had a really hot streak especially in the second and fourth quarters. He seemed unguardable after hitting three straight 3-pointers mid-way through the fourth. However, his efforts went in vain as Minnesota wrested the advantage with a 13-1 run in clutch.

Jaden McDaniels, who took up the Doncic assignment on defense, had himself a team-high 30 points. This was his second game top-scoring for his team in this series as he capitalized off a number of defensive breakdowns and transition opportunities. James showered high praise on the NBA All-Defensive team candidate, noting that the game ball should be McDaniels’ for his performance.

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