LeBron James' season may be over following a sweep of the Lakers by the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, but he is still the subject of several NBA offseason storylines and debates.
Among the most vitriolic of them is the feud between Fox Sports analyst and Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe — a friend and supporter of LeBron — and Kwame Brown, the first overall selection in the 2001 NBA Draft. The two have traded barbs since Brown criticized James' play in Game 4 of LA's series loss vs. Denver.
Sharpe was quick to defend James against Brown's critiques, saying Brown was in no place to make such claims because of his status as one of the biggest NBA Draft busts of all time. Whether Brown's arguments lose merit because of that is up for debate, but it has been a significant point of contention between the two nonetheless.
Here's everything you need to know about Sharpe and Brown's beef:
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Shannon Sharpe-Kwame Brown feud, explained
Sharpe and Brown's back-and-forth began Wednesday after Brown posted on social media a seven-minute rant railing against James for his performance against the Nuggets, even after he nearly averaged a triple-double with 27.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 10 assists per game in the series. (Warning: Explicit language used.)
Brown characterized James as a stat sheet-stuffer and repeatedly criticized his inability to get a potential game-winning shot off in the waning moments of Game 4. He claimed former players Richard Hamilton and Gilbert Arenas would have gotten a shot off in that situation, and added that Kobe Bryant would have made the shot to win the game for the Lakers.
"I have never seen a guy of your caliber, supposed caliber, you don’t even get a shot off?" Brown said, addressing James. “You’re probably the best scorer in the game, you got all these points. But you were looking for a bailout (foul call from the officials) again.
"You can’t say that you’re great. You've got to do great things. That’s where greatness lies," Brown said.
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Sharpe responded Thursday on FS1's "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed," arguing Brown's argument is invalid because he is a bust. Brown averaged 6.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game over his 12-year career.
"Skip, he said, 'You're supposed to be great.' Really?" Sharpe said. "Kwame, of all the people — he should never, ever question anybody's greatness. Because this is what we know: If there's a Mount Rushmore for busts in the NBA history, whether he's the first head, the second head, the third or the fourth, he's on Mount Rushmore of bust NBA players."
Unc Shannon sharpe went off on kwame brown for talking about Lebron James 😭😭😭😭😭😭
— Shannonnn sharpes Burner (PARODY Account) (@shannonsharpeee) May 25, 2023
“You on the Mount Rushmore of all busts….you a joke real talk” pic.twitter.com/0faxC2Akep
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Brown himself acknowledged in the initial video that he was a bust and that people are going to come back at him with that. "Cool. I'm a fan now," he said. Brown, whose last season in the NBA was 2012-13, added that Bryant and Michael Jordan would have gotten to a favorite spot and attempted a shot in that situation.
Following Sharpe's rebuttal, Brown issued another profanity-laden video, this one directed at the Hall of Famer.
He claimed that Sharpe is in no position to critique his arguments because he played football, not basketball, adding that Sharpe is a "football-playing dummy." He also said Sharpe's opinion was warped by what Brown described as fandom of James, pointing to a confrontation between him and the Grizzlies in January. (Sharpe later apologized for the incident).
"You call me emotional. You were going to fight a whole team because of your love affair with LeBron," Brown said of Sharpe. "You the reason Ja (Morant) probably carrying guns right now. Ja was like 'Oh, s—, a big-a— n— in a grandmama sweater trying to fight his daddy and team.'"
The ball is in Sharpe's court if he wants to continue the feud. If he does, expect more vitriol.
