Like every other NBA superstar, LeBron James has had his share of ‘stoppers’ thrown at him. DeShawn Stevenson is a standout among them.
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‘You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him’ is a phrase that fits LeBron James better than anyone. His exploits and his statistics bear this out better than anything else.
At 6’9″, 260 pounds, James was also the fastest player on the court in addition to being the strongest for over a decade. However, that isn’t even his best trait – we’d have to give those honors to his cerebral basketball IQ.
James’ court awareness and deft passing skills allow him to make the most of his teammates – if you can find him the right fit. And as the all-time highest scorer for both the regular season and the playoffs, his scoring is unstoppable.
Naturally, many teams have tried to develop or acquire swingmen with the ability to lessen his impact, with varying degrees of success. The one player who’s historically held his own against LeBron is Kawhi Leonard.
Dillon Brooks of the Grizzlies is attempting to currently play a disruptor’s role against LeBron’s Lakers. He’s trying, in his own way, to emulate another legendary agitator in DeShawn Stevenson.
LeBron James – DeShawn Stevenson: A Feud History
The back-and-forth between LeBron James and DeShawn Stevenson began in 2008 during the Eastern Conference semifinals between James’ Cleveland Cavaliers and Stevenson’s Washington Wizards.
Stevenson made comments about James being “overrated,” which didn’t sit well with James. The Cavaliers went on to win the series, but the bad blood between James and Stevenson continued to simmer.
In 2010, James left the Cavaliers and signed with the Miami Heat, which only added fuel to the fire. Stevenson, now playing for the Dallas Mavericks, called James “overrated” once again and said that the Heat’s “Big Three” were “like the Wizard of Oz.” James responded by saying he didn’t have a reaction to Stevenson’s comments, but that he had never been “disrespected” like that before.
The tension between the two players finally boiled over during the 2011 NBA Finals, which pitted James’ Heat against Stevenson’s Mavericks. During the series, Stevenson called James “great,” but also said that he “checked out” during games. James responded by saying he didn’t have any “back-and-forth” with Stevenson and that he was only focused on winning the championship.
During the Mavs’ championship celebrations, Stevenson capped off his talk with this emphatic T-shirt statement.
Lance Stephenson once tried to blow in LeBron’s ear during a playoff series
Brooks’ statements about 38-year-old James also pale in comparison to Lance Stephenson’s amazingly lame strategy to contain James.
Quite unorthodox – one might say. The magnificence of the above gif reduces everything competing with it to a pale shadow.
