LeBron James is still a little bitter about not being named the NBA’s first unanimous Most Valuable Player back in 2013.
James’ comments surfaced during a recent appearance on “The Shop” podcast.
As a member of the Miami Heat that year, James earned 120 out of a total of 121 votes for MVP. Carmelo Anthony sniped one reporter’s vote, thus ending the four-time NBA champion’s bid to become the first unanimous selection.
“I also had the opportunity to be, I would’ve been the first unanimous MVP where I got all 120 votes. But I got 119,” he said, off by just one. “There was one vote where he voted for Carmelo.”
LeBron really said “Imma wait for the doc” everyone finna get the smoke LMAOO pic.twitter.com/GwKSyFswhT
— 𝓛𝓛💫 (@HoodiiBron) April 19, 2024
RELATED: LeBron James Taunts His Son During Pick Up Game: ‘I’m GOAT Bro!’
LeBron James Threatens To Out Reporter Who Didn’t Vote Him MVP
In addition to his complaint, LeBron James suggested he would doxx the reporter who failed to make him the NBA’s first unanimous MVP.
“The writer is from Boston, of course. I know his name too, but I ain’t going to give him that light just yet, I’ll wait for the doc on that,” he said.
Not sure what James is insinuating with the ‘Boston, of course’ jab, but giving the vote to a player for the Celtics’ rival New York Knicks at the time doesn’t seem like a decision fueled by any devious ulterior motives.
Oh, and the writer has also been well-known for some time. So LeBron’s threat to out him seems, well, odd.
The Boston Globe’s Gary Washburn had already admitted to being that vote. And it seemed more semantics in the definition of “valuable” that fueled his decision.
“I had no idea I would be the only voter to leave LeBron out of first,” Washburn wrote. “This isn’t Mrs. Wilson’s class, I don’t walk around asking fellow sportswriters their answers to the US History quiz. This isn’t the Best Player in the Game award; it’s the Most Valuable Player award, and I think what Anthony accomplished this season was worthy of my vote.”
RELATED: Shaq – Nobody Fears LeBron James Like They Did Michael Jordan Or Kobe Bryant
LeBron James has been a little salty about the 2013 NBA MVP vote for some time.
When Steph Curry became the league’s actual first unanimous selection in 2016, the future Hall of Famer said he wasn’t thrilled about how the vote involving him previously went down.
“I was heated,” James said at the time. “But I knew all along [I wasn’t getting a unanimous vote]. I just knew it.”
Shaquille O’Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers also earned 120 out of 121 MVP votes in 2000. He too complained about the voter – reporter Fred Hickman – who failed to make him a unanimous selection.
He was, perhaps, even more bitter.
“Fred Idiot Hickman,” O’Neal said. “I hate him. I don’t need to talk to him. There’s nothing to apologize about. Because he destroyed history being an asshole.”
Shaq recently made headlines when he cast his vote in the ‘greatest player of all-time’ conversation, noting that nobody really fears LeBron.
“I’ve heard players say, including myself, ‘I feared Mike.’ I’ve heard players in your generation say, ‘I feared Kobe,’” O’Neal claims. “I never really heard any players say they fear LeBron.”
Shaq says he never heard a player say they feared LeBron James
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 13, 2024
"I've heard players say, including myself, 'I feared [Michael Jordan].' I've heard players in [Mario Chalmers's] generation say they feared Kobe. I've never really heard any player say they feared LeBron."
(🎥… pic.twitter.com/nTObkiGKmP
James, who feels snubbed consistently, argues that he is “the best basketball player that ever played the game.”
He was recently seen taunting his son during a playful game of hoops and letting him know he is the “GOAT.”
Should he have been the unanimous choice in 2013? Probably. Should he still be complaining about it over a decade later? Probably not.
