In all likelihood, LeBron James was kidding when he told the media that he sometimes gets jealous when he looks at Kevin Durant’s statline. KD correctly accused the press of making a bigger deal out of the comments than they warranted. Per the Oklahoman:
“How can I not see it? It’s been on CNN. It’s been on ABC, FOX Sports. Man, it’s been everywhere. Ya’ll blowing that out of proportion, man. I mean, I’m pretty sure, matter of fact, I’m 100 percent sure LeBron can do whatever he wants.”
“I get jealous sometimes when I look over at KD and he’s like 16-for-32 (from the field) and then 14-for-34. …Man,” James was quoted as saying. There are games when I have it going, and then at the end of the game, I’m like, damn, I shot just 12-for-16? Why don’t I get up at least six or seven more? I definitely notice it.”
James is averaging a career-low 16.2 shot attempts but shooting a career-high 58.7 percent from the field. He’s purposely dedicated himself to being a more efficient scorer over the past two seasons, and he still sacrifices shot attempts to orchestrate the Heat offense and get teammates involved.
“There’s probably a handful of times I shot 30 times,” Durant said. “I’m sure he’s shot more 30-shot games than I have over his career. But I guess the guy is just trying to challenge himself. I don’t know. But you guys are blowing that up for no reason.”