For two decades, LeBron James has stood out as one of the brightest stars of the Los Angeles Lakers. During his NBA career, he has played under nine head coaches. Some of them seemed to be dismissed earlier than expected. That’s why some people placed the label of “coach killer” on the King of the court.
People saw James as someone who put pressure on the team to fire coaches he didn’t like. He earned that reputation after his poor relationship with Cavaliers coach David Blatt in 2016. At that time, many believed he manipulated the situation to get coaches fired.
A confusing situation that created the label
According to Athlonsports, Ty Lue, Blatt’s associate head coach in 2015-16, explained that the label is false. He said that Blatt was fired for another reason: he couldn’t adapt to the NBA after coming from Europe. Even though Blatt led the Cavaliers to the 2015 NBA Finals, Lue said he never felt comfortable with the team.
On the Club Shay Shay podcast, Lue said: “When you coach overseas, you’re the face of the team… Whatever you say goes, no matter what. But in the NBA, players are the face of the team. It’s a different dynamic. You can’t just walk in, go crazy, and curse someone out like before. That doesn’t always work here.”
Lebron James is a serial coach killer. Darvin Ham is just his latest underserving probable victim
Silas
Malone
Brown
Spoelstra
Blatt
Lue
Walton
Vogel
HamSpoelstra and Lue are the only ones to survive the most uncoachable superstar ever. He’s a poor leader and a enormously… pic.twitter.com/TBmDay2Kk3
— Apex Jones (@ApexJones22) May 1, 2024
Lue also clarified that LeBron James and other Lakers players felt frustrated with Blatt’s decisions. “He just didn’t fit with our team and what we were trying to do. I think the guys grew frustrated with his process and with the way he did things, offensively and defensively.”
ESPN added: “Some labeled James a ‘coach killer’ because of his perceived involvement in Blatt’s dismissal, portraying him as a puppet master pulling strings to elevate his preferred coach, Tyronn Lue, to the top job.”
LeBron James quickly responded:
“It sucks. But what can I do about it? Never, since I first picked up a basketball, have I ever undermined a coach. I’ve never disrespected a coach.”
