In an op-ed titled "Why Doesn't Anyone Want To Play With LeBron Anymore," writer Ric Bucher explores what it means to be LeBron's teammate in the post-Decision Era. Don't let negative perspectives color your view of the situation. In the modern NBA, star players often give their teammates the exigence to play above their heads.
In some cases, a self-motivated player like Kyrie Irving, for example, might feel constricted by riding LeBron's coattails beyond a certain point. Role players like Tyson Chandler have a very different understanding of what it takes to play with or under a player/coach like LeBron. Chandler said it best a few days before his Laker teammates in November.
"If you've got LeBron, you've got to make it all about LeBron," Tyson Chandler told the press. "You've got to be able to [coexist] with that and fit with that. Who are you, where are you in your career, and how do you fit in? It's a sacrifice, but it's a sacrifice for winning."
The elevated pressure doesn't stop at the locker room, or at the coaching level. Members of management and even ownership with respect to Cavs' owner Dan Gilbert have had to cope with LeBron's every whim and desire, within reasonable cost. As Ric Bucher reported, with the active cooperation of The Full 48 podcast, league sources are deadset on the idea LeBron wanted Kyrie Irving switched for Damian Lillard when the former requested a trade. In the end, the Cavs never made any contact with the Portland Trail Blazers, and Lillard made a public statement committing himself to his employers shortly thereafter.
