LeBron James is a four-time NBA champion, but his detractors have always criticized him for chasing rings in different cities.
According to former NBA first-round pick Rashad McCants, James defeated the game's very purpose, which is staying loyal to your team. McCants said that LeBron leaving Cleveland for Miami, then Miami for Cleveland, and Cleveland again for Los Angeles, is tantamount to cheating the game. Rashad thinks that if LBJ truly understood the game, he would have never left Cleveland in the first place.
The former Tar Hell expressed that between Bron and Reggie Miller , he respects Miller's legacy more than James' because Reggie chose to fight on despite being dealt a bad hand year after year in Indiana.
"Reggie didn't have nowhere near the pieces that LeBron had during his journey," said McCants in a recent episode of the Gil's Arena podcast. "And I think that if Reggie would have had those pieces, his legacy would have been different."
Reggie never won a ring in 18 years
Miller was the 11th overall pick of the 1987 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers . He is also among the many all-time greats who never won a championship ring in the league. However, while his contemporaries like Charles Barkley and Karl Malone tried to do so by moving to other cities, Reggie stuck it out with the Pacers through thick and thin.
Indiana never really gave the UCLA product the supporting cast he needed to win it all. His best teammates in Indiana were Rik Smits, Jalen Rose, Mark Jackson, Antonio Davis, and Dale Davis who were good NBA players but not good enough to help him topple MJ's Bulls during the 90s.
The closest that Reggie got to the Larry O'Brien trophy was in 2000 when he led the Pacers to the NBA Finals against Shaq and Kobe's Lakers. But with The Diesel at the peak of his powers and Kobe ascending into greatness, Miller's team lost in six games.
Related: Scottie Pippen on how Michael Jordan would have reacted if he left the Bulls: "He would have probably tried to shoot more and score more"
Reggie would say no to Michael
Miller's loyalty to the Pacers was unlike any other. Not only did 'Uncle Reg' not entertain leaving Indiana to chase a ring, but he also said he would have insulted Michael Jordan if MJ asked him to play with him in Chicago.
"If Michael Jordan ever would have called me and tried to sway me to come to Chicago, I would have told him to go f**k himself!" Miller said to ESPN in 2021. "I'll be coming to see you on I-65 or whatever that highway is there. I'll be down to see you."
In that same interview, the former sharpshooter also said that the love of the Indiana fans is as 'everlasting' as a championship ring. He said he would never trade his relationship with the Pacers' faithful for a chance to win an NBA title elsewhere. Well, that's his principle, and like McCants, you have to give Reggie some damn respect for choosing that. But that really doesn't make his legacy better than LeBron's.
Related: "I was critical of LeBron for going to Miami, but so happy when he came back to Cleveland" — Reggie Miller explains the importance of loyalty to small market teams
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