Gilbert Arenas has declared that he has ‘beef’ with LeBron James. But it’s not the current version of LeBron he has a beef with, but a version from the past. A Twitter page by the name Playmaker Hoops recently posted a video poll, asking viewers which version of LeBron was their favorite. The options presented were the Cleveland Cavaliers James(2003-2010), the Miami Heat one( 2010-2014), Return to Cleveland (2014-2018), and the Los Angeles Lakers(2018- present).
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Though we know Arenas as someone who loves and admires LeBron’s game, as a player he apparently had “beef” with one version of the King. Though he didn’t mention which James he had a problem with, it’s quite obvious which one it is. Agent 0 only played against LeBron in the 2000s, and the only Jersey the Akron Hammer wore during that time was the Cavs jersey. King James and Arenas went on to have epic battles, with one moment forever defining the latter’s career.
Gilbert Arenas is not a fan of Cavs LeBron
Gilbert Arenas recently responded to the Twitter poll mentioned earlier, which asked viewers to select their favorite version of LeBron James. Replying to the tweet, Arenas posted a picture of him and LeBron having a moment when they were with the Washington Wizards and the Cleveland Cavaliers respectively.
The three-time All-Star captioned the reply, “I know which version of LeBron ain’t my favorite.” The moment that Arenas is hinting at through his post is none other than the infamous free throws that he missed during Game 6 of the Cavs and Wizards’ first-round matchup in the 2006 playoffs.
Agent Zero sat down with DJ Vlad for an interview a while ago, where he ended up talking about the incident. On being asked what LeBron whispered in his ear at that moment, Arenas answered, “[LeBron said] If you miss this, you know who’s going to make it.” Arenas would go on to explain how LeBron was not referring to himself but to Damian Jones. And like clockwork, the Wizards star missed both free throws and Damian Jones checked into the game, made a three, and won the Cavs the series.
Arenas later on explained that this hurt because Jones owed him some money. And for that reason he had been taunting the Cavs player for a while.
Arenas blames LeBron for changing the game
Even with their little moment, Gilbert Arenas and LeBron James have the utmost respect for each other. But like many players in the 2000s, Arenas retired due to injuries. But on the other hand, King James is still going strong. This season is possibly the first time we are seeing LeBron play restricted minutes while being completely healthy.
Arenas now believes that with LeBron possibly playing into his early 40s, the norm for basketball players is going to change. He said on his Gil’s Arena podcast, “It just puts so much pressure on people. The fact that he’s 39, doing what he’s doing, makes 30 seem like you’re a rookie. Now we have a glimpse of what 38 and 39 are capable of doing, which means when players are looking like they’re slowing down at 31, 32, I don’t know how we accept that anymore.”
But its not only LeBron James who is managing to show MVP level form later in his career. Even the likes of Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, who are both in their mid 30s are still leading their teams to the playoffs as the number one option. With many star players like Chris Paul and Derrick Rose reaching the tail end of their careers, it would be interesting to see who among the veteran stars can snag a ring before they retire.
