Former NBA Player Iman Shumpert Calls The Miami Heat Version Of LeBron James “The Scariest”

Iman Shumpert believes the best version of LeBron James was with the Miami Heat

We have seen many versions of LeBron James, from his days with the Cleveland Cavaliers to now, he’s been one of the best basketball players.

In a recent episode of Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes’ All The Smoke podcast, former NBA player Iman Shumpert says the best version of James was with the Miami Heat.

“I think the best version I saw of Bron was…you remember the year that Dirk won? That next year they came back,” Shumpert said. “When him and D Wade vowed to not shoot, not settle for threes, and they played their whole first season and they wasn’t shooting no threes. They was just, it was vicious. I was like, ‘Bro, what the f**k are we supposed to do with that? I was like, looking at the league. What am I going to do about that? Like what is that, n***a? They running fast. They big as s**t. I’m like ‘D Wade and Bron literally passing it back and forth and just downhill, downhill, downhill. I feel like that was the scariest Bron to deal with.

Shumpert, who played four years with him in Cleveland, echoed what many basketball pundits have said. Although James began his dominance with the Cavs, it was with the Heat when he started putting his name in the GOAT discussion. 

James led them to back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013 in four straight Finals appearances. He also holds the franchise record for most points in a game with 61 against the Charlotte Bobcats on Mar. 3, 2014.

Even James himself believes his time in Miami made him better. In July 2022, an episode of his HBO show “The Shop” went viral of him discussing the changes.

“I spent like seven years and then I went to Miami that first year and everything was about like still what everybody else thought," James said. "And then I was literally like ‘I don’t give a f**k about what anybody else think. I’m him.”

Whether you love him or hate him, his greatness can’t be denied.

Cory Nelson is a contributor to Sports Illustrated’s channel “Inside The Heat” and Fansided’s “Wiz of Awes”. He attended Northern Virginia Community College. He can be reached at corymckenzienelson@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @CKenzyNelson and Instagram @ckenzynelson