In this episode of The Draymond Green Show, host Draymond Green and guest Tristan Thompson discuss Mario Chalmers' recent comment that "nobody feared LeBron James." Thompson reacts strongly, expressing frustration and defending LeBron's dominance, especially during his Miami years, citing his athleticism and the fear he inspired among opponents and even teammates. The conversation expands to broader themes of teammate loyalty, the significance of winning an NBA championship, and the expectation that former teammates should not speak ill of each other. Both Green and Thompson critique media narratives that pit NBA stars against each other, likening such divisive framing to attempts to turn players against one another, and emphasize that praising one player (LeBron or Steph Curry) should not diminish the other's reputation. Green shares personal observations that many players and teammates have indeed been terrified of LeBron, reinforcing Thompson's stance. The dialogue underscores the importance of camaraderie, respect, and authentic support within the basketball fraternity, concluding with Green promoting The Volume's YouTube channel.
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Mario Chalmers recently said nobody feared LeBron.
That shit pisses me off, bro. That shit pisses me off, man. Like, you know what I don't like? It's like people will, will, will, will, like if I, if I play, like the fact that Mario Chalmers, like Mario Chalmers, at one point you were probably texting LeBron to get on a team and get a job. So, so, 'cause he couldn't get you a job or get you on a team. And I'm, listen, I'm just assuming. I'm not saying that's what it is. I'm just saying, listen, when you play with certain players and you get a point in your career where things are tough, you're going to make a call. Yo, look out for me, or see what you could do. Just because you might not have got your way, like, how can you say that about a guy that you went to war with, who believed in you? There was times where D-Wade was on your ass chewing you up. Chris Bosh was chewing your ass. LeBron would always push Mario to be better, push him to be, you know, talk great about him to the media. Said all these great things about you, and then you're going to come and say no one fears LeBron? Like, this is the best player you've ever been on the court with. How are you going to say that no one fears— first of all, Miami LeBron is the most scary LeBron we've ever seen in our life.
That part.
You know what I'm saying? Like, that LeBron was— he was like 290, running a 4-4 and jumping over John Lucas and stuff. Like, that was athleticism at a whole nother level. Like, how can you say that? And that just shows you that, like, man, like, guys be on some sucker shit. And I don't like that kind of stuff because it's just like, bro, like, why you start switching up? Like you said about earlier, how guys get in media and they act like they never sat in the locker room. OK, now guys are retired and not playing basketball. Now you want to talk shit about a guy that you won a championship. But I would never— Absolutely. Talk bad about any of my teammates that I've won a championship with. I would never even fix my mouth because me and you went to war and we accomplished something that's after family and kids and God, winning a championship is probably the next best thing in life. You know what I'm saying? Like winning NBA championships. So the fact that you do that and you come out and talk about that man after he just, you know, got the scoring record and he's in year, you know, 20 and like, like, Come on, bro. Like, really? And it's just like, if your own people talk shit about you, then now you know why people talk bad about you. You know what I'm saying?
Absolutely.
We are the people, like myself, any of Bron's teammates, we can't be the ones to talk bad about Bron. Because then it further fuels the fire for all these other people that have hate for our brother. And have hate for our family member that will talk shit about him. So we can't, from within, can't talk shit. 'Cause if we talk shit, then all them gonna, you know, they're gonna know there's a weakness in the tribe. So like the fact that he did that, like, it's like, bro, like that's not cool. Like I don't respect guys that do that kind of stuff. That's not the way I operate. I've never talked bad about none of my teammates, especially when I win a championship with, you know what I'm saying? And it's not like you guys had beef or issue. Mm-hmm.
So. No, I respect it. And one thing I respect is how you ride for Bron, because I catch a lot of flack for the way I ride for Bron. And you know, people will say like, "Oh man, you said this about LeBron. That's disrespectful to Steph." And it's like, actually, the love that I got for Steph and how I ride for Steph, Steph knows how I ride for Steph. And Steph know I got the love.
Right.
Like me, Me giving credit to LeBron or supporting LeBron or fucking being happy for LeBron, that doesn't dim Steph's light. Like, you know, I always tell, like, think about it and tell people like, that's your losing ass mentality that you think if I go say something about this, if I go say something about LeBron James that's positive, that it's dimming Steph's light.
Yeah.
That don't dim Steph's light at all. Just like if, If I go say something about Steph, that's not dimming LeBron's light.
No, at all.
But that's the— and I agree with you and what you're saying is, but that's the mindset they want us to have. I always like compare it to slavery where they try to turn us against each other. You know, where it's like, no, it has to be one or the other. It can't be Steph. Steph can't be great and LeBron can't be great or stuff like that. Like, I hate that. And so I agree with you 100%. We have to ride for each other because at the end of the day, it's all we got. Like, you know, everybody always talk about like, oh, it's this basketball fraternity, NBA fraternity. Like, man, that shit is fake. Like, guys do not support how they say they gonna support. They do not look out how they say they gonna look out. None of that. But the ones that you do have in your corner, and that's one thing that I can really appreciate about Clutch as a whole, the guys that you do have in your corner, man, you gotta ride for, you gotta ride with. And I disagree with Mario's statement from the standpoint of obviously, like you just said, shit teammate. You know what I'm saying? That's the guy you went to war with. That's the guy you won championships with. And like, don't get me wrong, you had to carry your own. Like Mario was a damn good player, so I ain't taking nothing from him. But on the flip side, like, bro, I personally know people that were scared of LeBron James. So I just, I all out just disagree.
Yeah.
Because I know a bunch of people that were and still are, in fact, terrified of LeBron James. Like, I've seen it. At times I've had teammates that was terrified of LeBron James. Like, and so I just didn't really understand I just really didn't understand the statement. I got a lot of love for Mario. You know, he's super tight with B.
Rush.
B. Rush was one of my OGs.
Yeah, one of your vets, yeah.
Yeah. I just didn't— I didn't understand.
I was very shocked. I was taken aback. And listen, you know, people might be having bad days, so you never know what someone's going through. But I was very— I was disappointed because, you know, like you said, it's a former teammate of yours. There's no personal issues between you guys. There's no hate. It's not like you guys had a back and forth on Twitter. It's just like, it came out of left field. It's disappointing.
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