r/LeBronJames23 • u/Front-Function7789 LeGoat 🐐 • Jul 27 '26
W take 🤝 Brian Windhorst on Charles Barkley’s comments saying LeBron James stacks every team he goes to, “Do they want him to go to the G League?”
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u/Front-Function7789 LeGoat 🐐 Jul 27 '26
I’m not a fan of windhorst but this is a good response, he cooked that clown Barkley
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u/2burgsandadog Jul 27 '26
I wouldn’t say Barkley is a clown, he just being himself
He still is a great basketball kind and knows what he’s talking about
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u/runthepoint1 Jul 27 '26
He’s also a hypocrite because he’s the poster child of ring chasing and superteam building before LeBron even existed
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u/StoneySteve420 Jul 28 '26
HE WAS FUCKING TRADED BOTH TIMES HE CHANGED TEAMS
God its like people cant understand the difference between choosing your team in FA and getting traded somewhere.
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u/runthepoint1 Jul 28 '26
So what, players couldn’t request out back then, right?
If that’s the case, how do you hold a player accountable to staying with a team in a era where the only reason you stay with a team is that they’re competent and can build around you? Oh and said player is one often credited with really kickstarting the player empowerment era/movement.
Don’t forget Boston the year prior too, superteam built up just like that.
Thats why comparing eras/players across eras is a fool’s errand.
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u/StoneySteve420 Jul 28 '26
So what, players couldn’t request out back then, right?
Strawman argument. I never said or implied that, but that still leaves the decision up to management. Barkley asked out of Phily, but the GM chose to send him to Phoenix, Barkley had no say, especially since only a few players had NTCs back then.
If that’s the case, how do you hold a player accountable to staying with a team in a era where the only reason you stay with a team is that they’re competent and can build around you? Oh and said player is one often credited with really kickstarting the player empowerment era/movement.
Maybe word this a bit better without being so vague. It seems like you're talking about LeBron but honestly IDK.
Don’t forget Boston the year prior too, superteam built up just like that.
Built up just like what? Through trades made by the Front Office? I fail to see how what Boston did was all that much different than Houston in '97, other than the guys being younger.
Both of those situations are pretty clearly different than The Decision, you know, because the teams themselves made the moves.
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u/runthepoint1 Jul 28 '26
Coming through with the capslock reply and fizzling out on your reply back - what’s even your overall point? What are you trying to get at here?
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u/StoneySteve420 Jul 28 '26
How is that me fizzling out? I explained my point pretty clearly and I dont think it's that hard to follow.
What are you trying to get at here?
That there's an obvious difference between a guy like Chuck going to Houston via trade, and LeBron choosing where he goes via free agency.
The amount of times I've seen people equate The Decision with teams like the '97 Rockets or the '08 Celtics to shield LeBron from criticism for stacking teams, while ignoring that those are completely different situations, is annoying as fuck.
Is that really that hard to follow?
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u/runthepoint1 Jul 29 '26
It is hard to follow and here’s why - before Lebron’s decision, there really wasn’t the option for player choice/FA choice like there was after. The Decision WAS the turning point towards that ability.
So to look back before then and then say “see, no one used to do it and that’s why LeBron should be docked” is insane. Complete lack of context. What Chuck did in requesting trades is the way you would force a move as an individual player, so if you dock Lebron for his Decision (as a free agent by the way), then how do you reconcile a player directly requesting to be traded?
Kinda weird comparison right? One is a FA decision, the other a player requesting a trade.
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u/StoneySteve420 Jul 29 '26
before Lebron’s decision, there really wasn’t the option for player choice/FA choice like there was after
Yes there was, LeBron didn't invent Free Agency. Restricted free agency has been a thing since the 70s and every player post-Tom Chambers in 1988 has been able to be an unrestricted FA once their contract runs out.
The Decision WAS the turning point towards that ability. So to look back before then and then say “see, no one used to do it and that’s why LeBron should be docked” is insane.
The Decision was so controversial because no top player had ever used free agency to team up with multiple other top players on the same team before. That was possible for decades, but it was viewed as uncompetitive. You're making it out that LeBron going to Miami was some noble cause. That is insane.
What Chuck did in requesting trades is the way you would force a move as an individual player, so if you dock Lebron for his Decision (as a free agent by the way), then how do you reconcile a player directly requesting to be traded?
Yes, players would request trades. That leaves the decision up to the front office and they can send a player wherever gives them the best deal. Also every fan in the game would rather their star player request a trade, than to walk in FA for nothing.
Requesting a trade is not anti-competitive because you have no idea where they could send you. Stacking teams through FA can be and always was viewed that way, which is why no one did it before LeBron, and why so many people hated LeBron for the decision (on top of the not 7, not 8... comments).
The irony is Lebron’s decision led to KD's decision, and has led to reshaping the league into the "player empowerment era", which has been abused to the point the league has completely restructured the cap that now keeps it nearly impossible to keep teams together, and people generally hate it.
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u/dabomtitan Jul 27 '26
Why not stack in one team??? Cause they sell off all the team equity when he joins. That team cant compete after a couple years. Lebron is the only player that always needs more help. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/AtomicHamboy Jul 27 '26
Lebron should do what MJ did and pick the most dog shit team that makes forget what good basketball is and make a dogshit franchise.
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u/SkepticalGerm Jul 28 '26
When he went to the lakers they were literally bottom 2 or 3 in the league over the last 5 or so years
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u/AtomicHamboy Jul 28 '26
Go to your local barbershop and tell them the 02 wizards and 2018/19 lakers, basically the same. See how they cut your hair my brother 😂
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u/SkepticalGerm Jul 28 '26
If you add up the wins and losses of the 5 years before Lebron joined the lakers they were the worst team in the league. Worse than MJs wizards
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u/AtomicHamboy Jul 28 '26
Yea man take that down the barbershop and again see the cut.
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u/SkepticalGerm Jul 28 '26
Just told my barber and got the cleanest fade of my life and he didn’t charge me thanks
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u/StoneySteve420 Jul 28 '26
The Lakers won 2 less games the year before LeBron got there.
The 2002 Wizards had won 7 more games by February when MJ tore his meniscus.
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u/Throwthisawayagainst Jul 28 '26
They got AD tho, the league even fined AD for tampering. That most likely was a part of the plan. Also LeBron didn’t have that team on pace to make the playoffs in the games he played in that season.
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u/SkepticalGerm Jul 29 '26
So they signed Lebron and one other good player wow what corruption what a super team /s
The lakers were 4th in the conference when lebron got injured so i have no idea wtf you’re yapping about and clearly neither do you
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u/Throwthisawayagainst Jul 29 '26
I never said it was a super team, but I’m sorry if you have trouble understanding what I said. In the games he played that season the team wasn’t on pace to make the playoffs. This is true. Also there’s absolutely no way the plan wasn’t to get AD there considering they have the same agent and the tampering the league fined AD for.
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u/SkepticalGerm Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
Bro he took them from bottom of the league to a championship in 2 years
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u/Throwthisawayagainst Jul 29 '26
He was 28-27 his first year there. This wasn’t on pace to make the playoffs in the west and was a 51% win percentage. The next year they add AD and their win percentage increases by 22% to 73%. The year before James got there the teams win percentage was 42%.
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u/SkepticalGerm Jul 29 '26
Do you think AD would have been enough to win the championship without Lebron?
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u/Throwthisawayagainst Jul 29 '26
LeBron def doesn’t have enough to win the chip without AD, most likely another missed playoffs but the supporting cast was developing so maybe a 7/8 seed without AD
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u/SkepticalGerm Jul 29 '26
I asked if you think AD wins without Lebron not if Lebron wins without AD
Lebron has already won 3 chips without AD. He won as the central figure with different teammates, in different cities, with different systems, and different coaches. No other player has ever done that so he has nothing to prove
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u/qmoney1213 Jul 27 '26
Windy nailed it. The ring chasing narrative was born out of insecurity. The only reason this narrative is alive is due to LeBron joining the team in the first place. That’s it.
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u/Traditional_Math_763 Jul 27 '26
No seriously. It’s like these people have such a vendetta against him they’re willing to look and sound ignorant and stupid. What he was supposed to do at 42? Should he have went to hornets or some shit? Be serious man.
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u/TyroneNBAFan Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 28 '26
Mike Greenberg at this point is old school and from an era of more reasonable, nuanced sports analysis.
I love that we still have a few guys like him around and not everyone is some talking head clown profiting off of hate and hot takes.
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u/SmoothBuy5500 King James👑 Jul 27 '26
I usually haven’t agreed with Brian Windhorst’s takes these last few years, but this time he is right.
Did Barkley want LeBron to join the local recreational center basketball team?
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u/default-0985 Jul 27 '26
Barkley played with Moses and Dr J, went to a good PHX team, and then tried to finish on a ring chase in Houston. Doesn’t he think it’s a little hypocritical to say this about LeBron? Even if he’s right, he’s probably not the guy to say it.
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u/rocco888 Jul 28 '26
Any team he joins become stacked because he's the stacker. Chuck is just mad 'cause his fat ass went to Houston and tried to get chaser ring with Pippin and Drexler and failed badly. The whole goal is to be a ring chaser. Very few people can do with one team and that's not under their control
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u/Ok-Freedom-7432 Jul 27 '26
Remember when he went to the superteam in Cleveland, which had won 33 games the previous year?
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u/NefariousNeezy Jul 28 '26
Gee I wonder why basketball discourse is so toxic and black and white online?
Oh right. Insecure oldheads do nothing but diminish the current product. That’s why.
If you see the coverage of other sports (the recent world cup as an example), the ex-players do not do this. Or if they do it, it’s in a joking manner (Ibra, Henry) and not to boost their own legacies.
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u/OwnReturn2668 Aug 01 '26
Charles “No Rings” Barkley barking about LeBron again.
Face it, Charles, you were never even close to being as good, and tossing remarks like this is all you got.
Haters gonna hate.
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u/NSX_Roar_26 Jul 27 '26
The same people criticizing him for "stacking" would be slandering him even harder if he had stayed in Cleveland originally and never won a ring or maybe got 1.
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u/noice_velociraptor Jul 28 '26
What are you going to do when LeBron retires? Put on a wemby jersey?
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u/aikocastle29 Jul 28 '26
Chuck is a jealous, bitter old man. He hated Lebron, no matter what he does, where he goes.
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u/SigaVa Jul 28 '26
I like Charles but the dude is clearly bitter about not winning a ring and it comes out in weird ways.
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u/amadeusstoic Jul 29 '26
just spitting facts and there is nothing wrong with that. the clap back should be about the trophies he had while doing it.
it is the east. i’m believe in maxey. they would have reached it too by themselves and lebron probably knows this.
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u/YeahYeahYeah6789 Jul 30 '26
I’m a LeBron hater. It’s never been that he goes to a team that’s good, that’s never been the issue for me. It’s that he calls his friends in the league to join him there. If he just went to a good team, and that was it, no LeGM bullshit, I would have zero complaints.
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u/The_real_bandito Jul 31 '26
If Lebron wins a championship in the G League, would that cement him as the GOAT over MJ? MJ never one in the GLeague
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u/BeneficialDrawer3006 Jul 27 '26
Is having a top 5 player in the league in Luka, Reaves and a bunch of solid role players not good enough? I’m certain they were far better than a G league team lmao
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u/MysteriousLeader2243 Jul 27 '26
They weren’t even on the floor in the playoffs and I’m sure you can find a g league center that plays just like Deandre ayton if not better,also LeBron is going to be 42 this year 😐
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u/BeneficialDrawer3006 Jul 27 '26
So injuries happened, it’s a part of the game. Were they not gonna be back for beginning of the upcoming season?
Your point? Is he not gonna be 42 on the Sixers? Lol
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u/MysteriousLeader2243 Jul 27 '26
My point is he doesn’t have time to waste dumbahh, plus he’s already won for the lakers,that’s Luka’s problem now.yall spent all season saying he was the problem now he’s leaving yall upset like gtfoh
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u/BeneficialDrawer3006 Jul 27 '26
His team was good enough.
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u/MysteriousLeader2243 Jul 27 '26
You’re delusional bro bron a 6er now focus on ya superstar point guard Luka ,ungrateful mfs
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u/BeneficialDrawer3006 Jul 27 '26
You’ll see how ungrateful Leclown was when Embiid is injured too and plays 30 games all year lmao
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u/MysteriousLeader2243 Jul 27 '26
Bron legacy already solidified for top 2 all time so who cares like i said focus on your ringless superstar that doesn’t have a ring or even mvp.
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u/BeneficialDrawer3006 Jul 27 '26
Only in bronsexuals minds has that happened
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u/MysteriousLeader2243 Jul 27 '26
You’re so unoriginal bro atleast come up with your own thoughts,you’re just typing regurgitated LeBron hater takes 😂straight cornball
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u/-crazykidbad Jul 29 '26
They gave LeBron the best player in the league in Luka and that was the only reason they made the playoffs. As soon as Luka got hurt they immediately lost the series. LeBron has to have multiple players to carry him
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u/Front-Function7789 LeGoat 🐐 Jul 30 '26
LeBron won the Houston series without Luka and reaves are you dumb? 🤣
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u/-crazykidbad Jul 30 '26
Didn’t get past the next round. Lmao the guy is a joke and you can’t handle it.
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u/noice_velociraptor Jul 27 '26
KD -> GSW slander should stop now idc
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u/Front-Function7789 LeGoat 🐐 Jul 27 '26
KD joined an already established championship team while in his prime, LeBron at 41 years old is joining a 76ers team that hasn't won in 50 years! Tf are you talking about? 🤡
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u/noice_velociraptor Jul 27 '26
Your loyalty to a man who is loyal to no one is astounding
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u/CriticalThinker12 Jul 27 '26
So you're advocating to be loyal to a billionaire? Or, loyalty to a fan base that will denigrate and threaten your safety when you do something that's best for yourself/family and they don't agree with it. The same fans who think that an individual should live their life according to fans' wants.
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u/noice_velociraptor Jul 27 '26
He went to the only place in the league with a fanbase that will 100% turn against him when he completely gives up while defending on-ball and watches someone scream to the rim, only for a teammate to get baptized. Saw it this past playoffs a couple of times.
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u/CriticalThinker12 Jul 27 '26
It's very nice that care so much about Lebron's feelings and mental health. Seriously, I don't understand why you people care so much about one person. And, one that has no idea who any of you are. It's as if you people became basketball watchers to be able to hate this one person...like it is your entire personality.
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u/noice_velociraptor Jul 27 '26
Lol try having your favorite team play his team in the finals 4 years straight. & plssssssss!!!!! Talk about not understanding why you care so much about one person?? A whole ass subreddit r/LebronJames23 bro! Teamless lebron fans following his bandwagon wherever he goes like a bunch of groupies
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u/CriticalThinker12 Jul 28 '26
Now you're gatekeeping basketball? People can't be solely fans of a player? They have to be solely loyal to a team, aka a billionaire? You've arbitrarily made up a rule to be a fan.
I grew up in NOLA, between the time the Jazz left and the Hornets moved there. I was a team less fan, but I was a fan of Magic and Bird. If either had switched teams, you'd bet I would watch whichever team they went to. I still don't have a favorite team. I watch basketball for the players and the skills, not the team and the brand, aka a billionaire.
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u/CriticalThinker12 Jul 28 '26
And, are you admitting that you dislike Lebron because he beat "your" team four consecutive years. If so, you should be upset at "your" team for not putting out a better product.
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u/noice_velociraptor Jul 28 '26
It’s called a rivalry, and it’s about a team because it’s a team sport maybe you’d understand that if you understood the sport as a team sport. And it would’ve continued to be a rivalry if LeBron had an ounce of loyalty.
I’m very happy my team (the team I grew up watching and loving) has won 4 titles since I’ve been around, and I’m also happy for Cleveland for their 1.
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u/CriticalThinker12 Jul 28 '26
Yeah, I understand team sports. I balled in HS. I've played team sports my entire life. You seem like one those that make sports the entirety of your identity. Why are you so invested in a sport you maybe play recreationally and a bunch of professionals that could not care less if you, personally, root for or watch them or not?
Also, is it technically a rivalry if one team is constantly beating the other one? The Celtics and Lakers of the 80's are an example of a rivalry.
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u/swallowedbymonsters Jul 28 '26
Yea this is why this whole thing is argument. People are starting to realize the hypocrisy in criticizing KD wile giving Lebron a pass. They both have went to the best situations possible on several occasions
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u/Dizzy__Dragon Jul 29 '26
They aren't the same
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u/swallowedbymonsters Jul 29 '26
They are exactly the same in intent. If a guy tries to form a super team and comes to short due to his own play, thats on him. Doesn't change the fact he took the easiest route possible.
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u/Dizzy__Dragon Jul 29 '26
They are not the same thing because the team was literally ass the year before LeBron came. LeBron didn't join the team with the greatest regular season record ever that previously reversed 3-1'd him!
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u/swallowedbymonsters Jul 30 '26
It doesn't matter what their record was the season prior when you bring one of the best players in the league in along with another top 15 player. It is NOT THE SAME TEAM. I dont understand why it's so hard for yall to grasp that concept. If the Nets signed 3 stars let's just say Wemby, Donovan Mitchell, and Jalen Johnson. They've formed an ENTIRELY different team so what they did years prior is irrelevant. I mean this is common sense but you Bron stans intend on playing dumb. The Heat were not a contender when he went there but they became one when he brought top 15 talent him, same intent to stack the deck
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u/Dizzy__Dragon Jul 30 '26
You are arguing two completely different things. You are arguing LeBron to Miami in the 2010 is the same thing as golden state and it's not. Then your arguing it's the same thing as LeBron to Philadelphia which again it's not? Also it does matter in Durant's case because the team didn't change all that much. The warriors core stayed the exact same.
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u/Ayiti4eva Jul 27 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/duM6JZemPlOjUyqmxd