LeBron James isn’t going to take the bait.
Following the Los Angeles Lakers’ 121-113 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night, the star forward was asked about the recent criticism from Kevin Durant, who said that other stars might not want to join James in LA because of the “toxic” environment that can surround the star forward both on and off the court even though it’s not James’ fault.
James, however, elected not to fire back at the Golden State Warriors star.
“I would love to see the whole transcript of what was asked of him, the context it was asked of him, why it was asked and the whole thing,” James said, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “So I’m not gonna comment on it because I don’t know the whole thing. That would be stupid on my part. I’m a veteran.”
Despite Durant’s remark, many still have the Lakers pegged as a possible destination for the star next summer should he choose to leave the Bay Area.
Durant’s criticism began with a thoughtful explanation of the type of players James needs around him to be successful, offering praise to Kevin Love and Chris Bosh, both of whom excelled next to the King. The 2014 NBA MVP then blasted the “fanboys” who create the “toxic” environment around James.
“So much hype comes from being around LeBron from other people,” Durant told Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher. “He has so many fanboys in the media. Even the beat writers just fawn over him. I’m like, we’re playing basketball here, and it’s not even about basketball at certain points. So I get why anyone wouldn’t want to be in that environment because it’s toxic. Especially when the attention is bullshit attention, fluff. It’s not LeBron’s fault at all; it’s just the fact you have so many groupies in the media that love to hang on every word. Just get out of the way and let us play basketball.”
James is fully focused on helping his young Lakers teammates grow, so we doubt he’ll put much thought into the comments, but we expect he and Durant might hash it out this summer if they two discuss joining forces.
