Lance Stephenson didn't follow in LeBron's footsteps, so he spent 6 years bugging him

LeBron James attracts pests it makes sense he's the best player of his era and rivals struggling to stop him want to get under his skin Lance Stephenson is perhaps the most notorious of those pests someone whose beef with LeBron has defined a lot of his career but Lance could have been so much more and maybe that's why this whole thing started people placed unparalleled expectations on LeBron James when he was a young prospect we've never really seen anything like it but later that decade the hype around Lance Stephenson came pretty close LeBron became a star as a freshman in high school leading st. Vincent st. Mary to an undefeated season and championship in 2000 when Lance was the same age he'd already earned the nickname born ready as in born ready for the NBA and at Lincoln High he won multiple championships broke the New York state scoring record and won all kinds of individual awards as a junior in 2002 LeBron was famous enough to grace the front of sports illustrated with an absurdly bold cover line in 2008 Lance was the youngest high school star featured in the documentary got in for that number one spot he was the subject of his own web series and featured on a 2009 slam magazine cover beside John Wall LeBron's hype wave crested in May 2003 when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Draft Lottery and immediately announced their intention to use the first pick on the local highschool star a full month before the draft and then you know LeBron embarked on one of the greatest careers in the history of pro sports somehow deeming a child the chosen one proved to have been a safe bet around this point is where Lance's story diverges from LeBrons by 2009 high school players could no longer go straight to the NBA Nance was rated a 5 star prospect and got attention from all the big deal schools but ended up at Cincinnati he had developed some reputation for being immature on the floor and difficult to coach and off the floor was worse as a high school senior Stephenson was arrested for groping and pled down to disorderly conduct after his freshman season at Cincinnati Stephenson announced he'd returned to school for another year then changed course and declared for the 28th NBA Draft with the goal of financially supporting his family but Lance fell far in the draft going 40th to the Indiana Pacers later that summer he got arrested again for viciously assaulting his girlfriend in a case that was eventually dismissed as LeBron headed to Miami in pursuit of rings Stevenson entered the league on its fringes lagging well behind the hype partly because of his own behavior Stevenson barely played his rookie year he didn't log a single playoff minute those 2011 playoffs ended with LeBron reaching the finals in his first season as a member of the heat and Miami lost that championship to a Dallas Mavericks team that employed another guy named Stephenson DeShawn Stevenson most famous for repeatedly needling LeBron on and off the court we've got a whole episode about that beef I'll give you the link at the end just be patient anyway Lance's playing time only increased a bit his second season he still rode the Pacers bench including during their conference semifinals series against LeBrons Heat but that's where the beef began from the Indiana bench Lance found a way to stir things up from the sidelines LeBron had missed some crucial free throws into Game two loss then went ahead and bricked a technical free throw during a Game three that the heat would also lose Stephenson who had yet to play a single minute in the series responded with the universal gesture for choking pretty bold move from a benchwarmer but I guess you don't have to fear retaliation if you never set foot on the court but a few things about that thing number one according to a more recent account by pacer start Danny Granger a faction of Miami veterans came looking for Stephenson after the game they actually Juwan Howard Udonis Haslem Chris Andersen none of them planned in hardly any minutes came to our locker room looking for Lance Stephenson Chris Andersen wasn't on the heat at the time so the details here might be iffy but the general story holds up thing number two LeBron totally dismissed Lance's gesture and his entire existence and then turned the series around with an unbelievable performance in Game four and one more thing in Game five which the Heat dominated Lance got to spin for a few minutes and Miami's Dexter Pittman sees the opportunity to issue some payback and if you had any doubt that flagrant foul was intentional I present you Dexter Pittman winking right into the camera the Heat won the series and LeBron eventually earned his first championship ring someone who isn't Lance Stephenson might have learned a lesson from this experience don't intentionally irritate the MVP DeShawn Stevenson had learned to resist poking the bear in years prior and look where that got him but not Lance not yet Stevenson's 2012 2013 season was a big one Green jur missed almost the whole year with an injury which slid rising superstar Paul George up a position which in turn opened a starting role for Lance Stephenson had a productive year and a career best performance to finish Indiana's playoff series win over the Knicks which propelled the Pacers into the Eastern Conference Finals against LeBron in the heat in Game four George got into foul trouble and Lance ever the opportunist begged to guard LeBron in George's stead he got his wish and rose to the occasion Lance stared LeBron down the whole second half baited him into fouling out of the game and finished with 20 points of his own in the series tying Indiana victory LeBron downplayed Lance's presence once more acknowledging his big game while completely dismissing their one-on-one matchup Stephenson played poorly the rest of the series Miami went on to win and 7 and then they won the NBA championship and even in the middle of that breakout month Lance's own teammates suggested he had some growing up to do well 2014 was an even bigger season for Lance he remained a starter improved across the board statistically and even led the league with five triple doubles on the year Indiana improved enough to surpass the heat as best team in the east and the rivalry between the two flared up here and there during the regular season including a moment in march where Lance got ejected for taunting Dwyane Wade come playoff time The Conference Finals once again pitted Miami against Indiana and to start Lance was all business he had 17 points as part of a balanced Indiana attack that commanded Game one Stevenson played even better in Game two but the Pacers lost and all anyone talked about afterward was his preposterous flop after colliding with LeBron Game three was another Heat win and this time LeBron had some words for Lance after another collision Lance loved it he insisted he had no beef with LeBron but proclaimed that the king and knowledgeably 'kiss pretending a series turnaround in the Pacers favor then the Heat kicked their asses again in Game four Lance played terribly and LeBron dominated the Pacers backs were against the wall for Game five and the desperation engaged maximum Lance before the game he was all like I said some things I shouldn't have lesson learned and all that during the game Lance did all kinds of creepy stuff likes idling in to Miami's huddle and the masterpiece blowing in LeBrons ear for some reason Pacers president Larry Bird gave Lance a talking-to and LeBron laughed off that exceedingly odd moment but it was hard not to dwell on the fact that James played terribly in Game five scoring just seven points in the face of Stevenson's defense Indiana won that day to push the series to his sixth game so there was no doubt Lance would dial it up in game 6 he got tangled with LeBron under the basket and then after getting popped in the face on a jump shot just kind of pet LeBron on his mouth for a sec anyway the Heat beat the Pacers once again that would be the end of that one-sided team rivalry and it looked like the end of the beef Lance even posted on Instagram to congratulate and proclaim his respect for LeBron of the heat LeBron left Miami for Cleveland in the summer of 2014 Lance was also a free agent and took a big offer from the Charlotte Hornets while LeBron got to work overcoming a new foe Lance's career trajectory dipped again this time just because of injuries and poor play Stevenson's performance fell off during that first season in Charlotte then he got traded and spent the next couple years bouncing from LA to Memphis to New Orleans to Minnesota barely hanging on to his place leek he even worked out for a potential job with the Cavs in 2017 which didn't bother LeBron at all but instead Lance returned to the Pacers and suddenly became a rotation player again that season culminated in an uneventful Pacers Cavs series and it wasn't until the following year that Lance picked the beef up where he left it the Pacers visited the Cavs in November 2017 and Lance marked the occasion by slapping LeBron right in the penis district they met again in January 2018 and Lance was annoying enough to provoke a technical worthy reaction from LeBron after the game LeBron called Lance's played dirty but said he was better off ignoring it not allows just a little dirty does long since school did it's not the guy who tells a joke didn't even get scars to go laughs and that's what he did in the rematch a couple weeks later before the game Lance reflected on his history with LeBron and vowed to keep trying every tactic to slow him down but LeBron was too busy helping the Cavs avoid a losing streak to engage this time as fate would have it cleveland entered the playoffs a four seed matched up with the Pacers in the first round yet again and Lance got right back to work in Game one he got LeBrons attention with a swipe that maybe grazed his face then took another swing later on that definitely made contact the Cavs collapsed and lost that game won but LeBron wasn't about to get into it with Lance over the fouls listen this funny thing he's a competitor go back down from nobody not done I definitely don't as well so no it's gonna be this year's he just went out restored order with a huge game to but by game for Lance on the brown were back into it they bumped and swiped and rassled and LeBron got annoyed to the point of another technical foul but he still carried Cleveland to a crucial victory afterward LeBron once again gave himself a public reminder to stop indulge in the class clown Elementary's like I tell you a joke you know I tell you joking and you laugh you get caught Lance told me a joke I laugh teacher called me and once again he followed a feisty game with a brilliant one pushing the Cavs ahead in the series with 44 points and the buzzer beater in game 5 Cleveland ended up eking out a game seven win to survive the first round on route to another finals and that summer something strange happened well a couple strange things happened LeBron left Cleveland for LA and around him the Lakers began adding some of the league's oddest and most difficult characters one of whom was Lance Stephenson both players acknowledge this union was pretty funny after all that had happened but put the past behind them so yeah unless they clash his teammates err split up and become playoff opponents again Lance first LeBron is over after a decade of action so what was it one could argue and I'm sure some will that this wasn't really beef but even then I'd say that's not for lack of trying Lance Stephenson once followed in LeBrons footsteps but his paths diverged well before he even made it to the NBA and establishing himself in the league wasn't just a matter of finding his game but of pivoting his persona he's become famous enough as a rule-bending

clownish agitator to have buried his deserved reputation for real-life problems after learning from his experience with the shaun stephenson lebron mostly knew better than to engage with that version of Lance but the bait was just too annoying to resist sometimes this is the rare beef with a clear winner and what looks like a clear conclusion Lance never got the better of and they eventually joined forces but don't forget that Lance managed to make things very very weird for a very long time