Mario Chalmers’ assertion that LeBron James wasn’t feared has sparked a debate about its accuracy. Chandler Parsons, a former NBA player, disclosed that he was more afraid of Kevin Durant than of LeBron James.
During his appearance on “Run It Back” with Michelle Beadle and Eddie Gonzalez, Parsons discussed his experience defending James and Durant. He pointed out that guarding Durant one-on-one is significantly more challenging than guarding James.
Chandler Parsons on Kevin Durant and LeBron James
“There’s harder matchups one-on-one. When I was playing, I feared guarding Kevin Durant more than I feared guarding LeBron James. Just because of his ability to score in iso, the way he can break you off. The way you can play great defense, he can shoot over you. LeBron is more passive,” Parsons said.
According to Chandler Parsons, players are more frightened of LeBron James when he is charging at them at full speed on the break or downhill. Parsons even suggested that some players might feel apprehensive when trying to make a layup and James is pursuing them to swat their shot away.
“He’s less aggressive, but let’s not get it twisted. There’s fear when you see this man coming downhill at you or even when you’re going for a layup you know he’s coming behind to block your layup off the backboard, so there’s fear,” he added.
While it may be accurate that Kevin Durant is a superior one-on-one player compared to James, with more offensive moves at his disposal and his length making him more difficult to defend, James is primarily known for his passing skills, despite being the NBA’s leading scorer of all time. However, James becomes more intimidating when he is charging at opponents at full speed, attempting to overpower them.
JJ Redick defends King James
JJ Redick came to the defense of LeBron James against Mario Chalmers’ claim that nobody feared him. On a recent episode of “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith and Tim Legler, Redick read out the definition of fear, which is an emotion triggered by the perception that someone or something is hazardous and poses a threat of harm. Redick argued that James had inflicted a great deal of pain on many players over the course of his career. He highlighted the numerous teams and players that James defeated en route to making ten NBA Finals and winning four championships, earning him the moniker “The King.”
“LeBron James has been to the Finals 10 times in 19 seasons. How much pain do you think he’s caused other players that have lost to him in the playoffs? I have the luxury because I get to talk to some oldheads on my podcast,” Redick said.
“I talked to DeMar (DeRozan) about his Raptors teams couldn’t get past the Cavs. I just talked to Al Horford about this. They lost five times to LeBron James in the East. There is some pain, some emotional pain inflicted by those losses,” he added.