Former number one pick Kwame Brown, who played for the Lakers in the mid-2000s, thinks that LeBron James’ game hasn’t developed during his 21 years in the league.
“That’s the same way he’s been playing,” said Kwame on Swish Cultures recently “He’s a cutter, slasher, and he’s developed a bit of the three. But the problem is, when he plays teams like Chicago or Boston, who have real solid principles, he has trouble. And so the old-school players wouldn’t have any trouble with LeBron because, at 39, he should have developed a mid-range and a post game, and he still hasn’t yet. He still has the athletic ability to just go 94 feet — which, I don’t know how, but he still has it. But if he didn’t have this athleticism, his game really hasn’t evolved outside of a three and putting his head down and going to the basket. He doesn’t go like Paul Pierce, getting to a spot, pulling up. Those are the things you normally see out of a superstar player.”
James’ improvement from the three-point line is definitely something that should be noted and not brushed over. In 2022-23, he made just 32.1 percent of his three’s, but last season, increased that to 41 percent.
LeBron is also about to turn 40 and still runs rings around most of the league with his skill and athleticism. Without him, Team USA may not have been able to win gold in Paris over the summer.
So, the criticism from Brown must be taken with a grain of salt, since it’s coming from one of the biggest busts in NBA history.
Brown isn’t too impressed with the James family as a whole it seems, because he also recently called out LeBron’s son Bronny James.