Los Angeles Lakers center Tyson Chandler wasn't happy about how teammate LeBron James was portrayed in a story from Bleacher Report‘s Ric Bucher, which swung around the narrative of star players no longer seeing the benefits of teaming up with James.
Bucher interviewed a fair share of stars, role players and even former Lakers players to provide context but Chandler thought his quotes came across negatively, which he never intended to do.
“What I said was, when you have a great player like LeBron, I said I've only played with one other player like that, and like Dirk, you have to make it about them because of how talented they are and where they can lead you,” said Chandler, according to ESPN‘s Dave McMenamin. “And of course all of that wasn't put in. It was just, ‘When you have a player like LeBron you got to make it about LeBron,' or something like that. However it read. But that wasn't the full statement.
“And I just think I don't like when negative articles come out like that, even if it's not about my teammate, but about my teammate, somebody who carries teams the way he does, I just think we're nitpicking. We're trying to find something negative about something that's great instead of just leaving it alone.”
Chandler's original quote actually provided plenty of context, as Bucher mentioned his words were said even he became signed with the Lakers and became James' teammate in early November. While the partial quote was boldfaced in the piece, the full quote provided the right perspective of a veteran's attitude and the sacrifice a player has to be willing to make before following through with the partnership.
Naturally, the stronger statements stood out the most, which forced Chandler to do some damage control on his part. After all, James is one of the players that advocated — and possibly even planned — for Chandler to join the Lakers.
Nonetheless, Chandler has been known as a leader, a proven winner, a no-nonsense veteran and a great teammate, qualities that are unlikely to be smeared by one out-of-context comment about his current teammate.
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