Shannon Sharpe stunned by people rooting for LeBron James to fail

LeBron James is polarizing without even being very polarizing, and Shannon Sharpe doesn’t understand why he garners so much hate.

James broke another record during the Los Angeles Lakers’ Thursday night loss to the Denver Nuggets by surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the league’s all-time leader in career field goals. But like most of LeBron’s records, it didn’t come without criticism from his detractors, who chalk the record up to being a compiler more than a prolific scorer. And Shannon Sharpe is tired of James not getting the credit he deserves.

“LeBron James walks on water, they’re gonna say, ‘Yeah, he walks on water because he doesn’t swim!’” Sharpe said on Thursday’s Nightcap. “That’s just the way it is, and you have to understand that. The greater you become, they try to knock you off the pedestal. They’re gonna come, and he’s done a great job. He’s not in the tabloids, but that’s what they want. Everybody wants to get something on him so bad. I’ve never seen an athlete that people want to see fail.”

Sharpe noted that James does have some supporters, as evidenced by his various endorsement deals and his ability to sell sneakers. James’ level of endorsements doesn’t come without a massive fan base. But Sharpe also noted that James routinely appears on lists of the most hated athletes.

“It’s just not in our imagination, guys,” Sharpe says of James having more critics than he deserves. “The facts back it up. It is what it is.”

Sharpe might be more sensitive to James’ critics than most after sitting across from Skip Bayless for seven years on FS1’s Undisputed. Bayless unabashedly made his TV career by being the media’s foremost LeBron James hater. But while Bayless might be the biggest James critic, he’s not the only one.

LeBron’s loudest critics come from people who are not even NBA fans. But amongst NBA fans, the criticism often stems from the LeBron vs Jordan debate. Consider that Kobe Bryant, who faced significant off-court controversy, had fewer critics than LeBron. It’s because no one ever thought Bryant was the best player in NBA history, but everyone enjoyed watching him try to be Jordan.

James, however, doesn’t play like Jordan, he doesn’t sound like Jordan, and he doesn’t act like Jordan on or off the court. But you can make a legitimate case that he is better than Jordan. And that irks NBA fans who are Jordan stans.