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“LeBron James dropped the basketball torch handed to him by Michael Jordan”: Jason Whitlock blames the Lakers’ superstar for Team USA’s shocking performance

Raahib Singh
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Journalist Jason Whitlock takes a dig at LeBron James, blames him for Team USA’s decline in International Basketball events in recent times

On Sunday, Team USA fell short 79-89 to France in their opening group stage game. The Kevin Durant-led Team USA squad started the game off strong but cooled off since the second quarter. They went down by six points to end the third quarter but managed to pull ahead by 9 points in the fourth. However, France, led by Evan Fournier, went on a 16-2 run to finish the game and seal the win.

Also Read: “LeBron James is what the USA Men’s Basketball team is missing”: NBA legend Magic Johnson explains why Kevin Durant and co. are missing the Lakers superstar at Tokyo 2020

This marked the first Olympic loss for USA Basketball in their last 25 encounters. Despite LeBron James opting to not go for Tokyo 2020, the media somehow found a way to blame him for the loss. Jason Whitlock, a well-known journalist, and a podcast host used some logic to pin the whole Team USA’s mediocre performances on LeBron.

‘LeBron James is the reason American athletes are indifferent towards the Olympics’

When LeBron James donned the Team USA jersey for the first time, the USA was undefeated. They had been winning the Gold in every major tournament, since the inclusion of professional players in national events. However, as soon as he joined, the USA got Bronze in the Greece 2004 Olympics. They then got Bronze again in the 2006 FIBA World Cup.

Since then, the USA has won Gold in all three Olympics. However, we have seen quite a few athletes turn down opportunities to play for Team USA. Jason Whitlock talks about the same and assigned the blame to LeBron James.

“American basketball is in a worse place than where LeBron found it. That’s what separates him from Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar [and] Bill Russell. LeBron dropped the basketball torch handed to him by the game’s greatest ambassadors,”

Also Read: “Team USA really selected Keldon Johnson over Trae Young”: NBA fans go crazy as the Hawks superstar hit a crazy game-winner in the OKC Skinz league

Whitlock went ahead and called James the face of the me-first, social media athlete. In his opening, he also called this as one of the main reasons why LeBron would never be considered GOAT over Michael Jordan.

Whatever the case may be, blaming LeBron James for this entire ordeal does not make sense. At the end of the day, LBJ is another athlete too, and he has the right to make his own decisions.

About the author

Raahib Singh

Raahib Singh

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Raahib Singh is an NBA Journalist and Content Strategist at The SportsRush. A Computer Science Engineer by qualification, Raahib's passion for sports drew him towards TSR. He started playing basketball at 14 and has been following the NBA since 2013. His entry into the basketball world perfectly coincided with Stephen Curry putting the league on notice. Having followed the league for a long time, he decided to use his knowledge to become a sportswriter with The SportsRush in 2020. Raahib loves to put up some shots in his spare time, watch Cricket, Formula 1, and/or read a nice thriller.

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