A hot topic of conversation in the NBA community over the last week or so has been people’s opinions on “ring culture” in the league. Is a player still considered great if they’ve never won a championship? Does a role player with multiple rings surpass the legacy of a great without one? LeBron James answered this question rather controversially, for which he has been crucified to no end.
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LeBron feels that a ring is a team accomplishment. He doesn’t understand why players receive so much individual credit for winning a championship. To back up his point, he cited Barry Bonds and Dan Marino, two all-time greats who never won a World Series or Super Bowl, yet are still widely respected in their sports.
Still, no matter how James phrased it, many pushed back on his comments, largely because of who he is. Draymond Green has since weighed in on LeBron’s take on “ring culture” and actually agreed with the four-time champion. That said, Green admitted he wishes James had expressed his thoughts a bit differently.
“So I understood what Bron was trying to say. I get the point. I don’t think he did a good job of explaining it,” Green began. “And so, when you are a champion, easy for you to say, ‘Yo, it don’t matter because I’m a champion.'”
He then broke down LBJ’s verbiage in a different way, and in doing so, further added to the “ring culture” conversation. “At least what I think he was trying to say. You got people that haven’t done this, and they use that to dumb down the greatness of other guys that haven’t necessarily done it,” said Green. While James used athletes from other sports to make a point, Dray gave an NBA example.
“Chris Paul is a winner. I tell people all the time. Chris Paul ain’t never won a championship, Chris Paul is a winner,” he said, knocking it out of the park. CP3 is not only great, he’s considered one of the best point guards of all time. Yet, certain fans or analysts will try to downplay his greatness because he doesn’t have a ring. “That doesn’t mean he ain’t great.”
This wasn’t the first time the Golden State Warriors legend spoke on the topic either. Just days earlier, on his podcast with Baron Davis, he addressed LeBron’s comments about how “ring culture” has ruined the game of basketball. Once again, Draymond agreed with James and used his own experience as a champion to reinforce the point, directing his words at analysts like Stephen A. Smith, who frequently criticize players despite never having competed for a title themselves.
“Because you don’t know how hard it is because you never gone through it, then you use it to lessen the greatness of some of the greats,” Green told Davis. The unfortunate part about this is that a certain section of sports fans will never accept this as an answer. A title is what everyone strives to achieve, so when an individual accomplishment doesn’t land them a ring, it’s null and void. It’s a narrow mindset, yet far too many basketball watchers still agree with it
Ring culture is both important and it’s not. A player’s legacy should not only be defined by that. Kendrick Perkins has a ring. Allen Iverson does not. There isn’t an analyst in the world who will say that KP’s legacy is remotely near The Answer’s.
