“LeBron James is overrated, you can tell him I said that”: When DeShawn Stevenson took Soulja Boy’s help in his beef with the Lakers superstar in the 2008 NBA season

DeShawn Stevenson called LeBron James overrated and feuded with him from the regular season, all the way in the first round of the Playoffs. 

LeBron James hasn’t been one to indulge in ‘beefs’ all too much during his career as he simply went out on the court and di what needed to be done. Sure, it seemed as though he was out to prove to everybody that Paul Pierce isn’t even in the same stratosphere as him and the mid-2000s saw him duke it out with the Warriors quite a bit. 

However, the beef never went off the court and only resulted in a few postgame press conference moments that had NBA Twitter chirping for a day or two. When it comes to DeShawn Stevenson on the other hand, the league had their hands full with comments coming from both parties. Well, mostly Stevenson if we’re being honest.

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During a game between the Cavaliers and the Wizards on March 13th, 2008, LeBron James missed a potential game winning buzzer beater over DeShawn. After the game, the Wizards wing went off on James and said, “He’s overrated and you can tell him I said.” This would only be the beginning of what was yet to come. 

LeBron James and DeShawn Stevenson’s beef with one another. 

LeBron James responded to Stevenson’s comments by saying, “With DeShawn Stevenson, it is kind of funny. It’s almost like Jay-Z saying something bad about Soulja Boy. There’s no comparison. Enough said.” Well, the Wizards star took this quote very literally and became close to the ‘Crank that’ artist. 

So much so that Soulja was actually at Game 3 of their first round series against the Cavaliers. After going done 0-2 in Cleveland, the Wizards hosted the Cavs for the aforementioned Game 3 and Stevenson popped off for 5 shots from beyond the arc while the ‘one hit wonder’ rapper was watching from the sidelines.

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LeBron James downplayed their beef and said that there’s nothing between the two. In Game 4, DeShawn clotheslined James, earning him a Flagrant and subsequently resulting in the two exchanging a few words. Nevertheless, the Cavs, like they had done in 2006 and 2007, moved past Washington in the postseason yet again. 

The ‘beef’ died down after the ‘08 season but would reignite, sort of, in the 2011 NBA Finals when DeShawn was on the Mavericks. There wouldn’t be any notable exchanges between the two here but, as we all knows, the Mavs beat the Heat that year, giving Stevenson a ring before LeBron James.