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No player has received as much attention – negatively or positively – as LeBron James. The LA Lakers small forward has been the center of discussion in the league for nearly two decades. The spotlight has continued to shine on him, highlighting every single achievement or problem faced by him or his team.
This has played out around every team LBJ has represented in his 19 seasons. Currently, the Lakers are having a terrible run, and James has gotten the end of the stick even though he's had MVP-level performances.
On "The Old Man and the Three" podcast, Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love discussed the amount of scrutiny James and the top Lakers players have faced. While saying the attention is challenging, Love related James to a gravitational pull, attracting both love and hate. He also related the scrutiny to the fact that the Lakers team is star-studded and a lot is expected from them.
"I've always said that Bron has like a gravitational pull," Love said. "Like everybody, the media, people that love him, people that hate him, people that love the Lakers, hate the Lakers, everybody just like focuses on that.
"So any step in the wrong direction, people are just gonna, like, take that and just keep grinding away on it. And it's tough. I mean, it's obviously a massive media market. Everybody expects the Lakers to do great things, especially with having a Big Three."
Kevin Love reveals scrutiny of a LeBron James-led team by media is driven by ratings
Kevin Love has been in the NBA for 14 seasons, having been drafted in 2008 as a first-round pick by the Memphis Grizzlies. His rights were traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, and he represented them for six seasons before joining the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014.
In his second season with the Cavs, the power forward secured his first and only NBA title. LeBron James and Kyrie Irving played a huge role in the Cavs clinching their first NBA title after leading the Cavs to a massive, unprecedented comeback from a 3-1 series deficit to the Golden State Warriors.
Love recounted his time as a teammate with LBJ and the media scrutiny they faced as every little mistake made was magnified. He also shared that James makes for good ratings as he helps media brands gain high visibility.
"I have played with Bron, and we were under a lot of scrutiny as well in Cleveland," Love said. "And we had great expectations and people were saying, Finals or championship or burst.
"So with that, every little misstep or you lose three in a row or you (are) hovering around .500. It's just a dozen different storylines. It's a soap opera. People always gotta have stuff to talk about: 24/7, 365 media presence, different storylines. If not, you're not gonna get your ratings. People are not gonna love the show. It's just a fact!"
