8 Players Who OWE Their Careers to LeBron…

These guys owed their life to LeBron James The Lakers have reached a verbal agreement with Timothy Moskov on a four-year 64 million dollar deal it's a desperate move But it was the only move for the Lakers over the last 23 years LeBron had more than 250 teammates And for many of those guys it was a blessing because after playing a solid season or two alongside James They instantly got paid and Larry Bird has a whole theory about that I never pay anybody who played with LeBron I would never pick him up on my team. He said cuz he'd make them all look good. They are really sad We'll see by the end of the video how many of his teammates really deserve the bag they got so let's start Chronologically with guys from his early Cavs days Anderson Vareja was a below-average center But because of the lack of quality centers in Cleveland He played 28 minutes per game and started for half the season in 08-09 The wild thing is they call them mostly for his hairstyle averaged eight points and seven rebounds on 53% efficiency being the fifth scoring option behind James, Mo Williams, Ilkauskas and Delonte West Damn, LeBron really led this bunch to a league best 66-16 record So despite losing in six games to the Orlando Magic in the conference finals the Brazilians signed a huge six-year 48 million dollar deal in July of 2009 and Cavs fans quickly saw the fruits of that Jermaine O'Neal got a piece of it Oh! A facial! Yes! And the foul! Keeps going right And Dwayne Wade right at the body of Anderson Vareja Jokes aside in the next five seasons Vareja flirted with a double-double posting nine and a half points and rebounds per game looking impressive at times Shirts out of the crotch! Oh he threw it down Did a good job of faking it He made him think he was gonna try and lay it up and threw the hammer down But he did that while playing only part-time missing 46% of the games total due to injuries Entering his last contract here Anderson got another gift from heaven as James was set to return to Cleveland for the 2014-2015 season So he wanted his old buddy to be there as well and secured him a three-year 30 million dollar extension But Vareja's numbers went plummeting and he stayed for only half of that Ironically ending up on the Warriors for the second part of that iconic 2015-16 season I'm sure it wasn't easy for him watching his Cavaliers win the chip without him but at least he watched them celebrate with his pockets full Next we have Sasha Pavlovich A guy from Montenegro that's been a valuable rotational piece alongside James in that surprising 2007 trip to the finals Posting 9 points per game and 23 minutes off the bench while shooting a solid 40% from downtown got Sasha a three-year 13.5 million dollar deal That's around 4.5 million per season which is considered minimum nowadays but for that time it was pretty decent And ever since he signed those papers his production fell off completely From 7.5 points the following year to a measly 4.5 in 2008-09 This forced the Cavs front office to ship him away later in that summer This made Pavlovich a classic journeyman suiting up for 5 teams in 4 seasons before eventually calling it a career in 2013 This leads us to the guy from the intro, Timofey Mozgov In 2015 the Cavs brought the Russian big man to fill in the void of Vareja and for 46 games as a starting center he posted 10.5 points and 7 rebounds on 59% from the field which is totally fine for someone playing on the same roster with LeBron, Kyrie and Kevin Love In the playoffs he hovered around the same production with his efficiency dropping to 50% With the Cavs up 2-1 against the Warriors and both Irving and Love out for the rest of the finals Mozgov had the game of his career He absolutely balled out putting up 28 points and 10 boards in the dominant 20 point loss. Yeah, his best game went down the drain as the Cavs were no match for Curry and Iggy and the rest is history as the Warriors went on to win the title in 6 games. The following season however the Cavs returned for a payback but with a healthy Kay Love and a younger and more energized big man in Tristan Thompson, Mozgov saw a huge dip in playing time In 17 minutes on the floor he posted only 6 points and 4 rebounds per game in the regular season and by the time the playoffs came he completely fell out of the rotation appearing in just 13 games while averaging a lousy 1 point and 1 board in only 5 minutes of action. But the Lakers didn't mind that at all and decided to throw him a gigantic 4 year 64 million dollar deal. This immediately became one of the most infamous overpays in NBA history as he got traded to the Nets just a season later where he ended his career at 31 years of age in 2018. Another guy that cashed in big from winning it all with Lebron is Matthew Delevadova. Now don't get me wrong, Dele was a famed favorite in Cleveland, justifying Lee getting praised for his defensive abilities especially for hounding Steph Curry in the finals. He was paid the bare minimum by the Cavs during his 3 years in Cleveland. In his best season statistically, he averaged 7.5 points and 4.5 assists on 41% shooting from 3 point range. In the finals, his stat line dropped to less than 4 points and 3 assists per game. But his image was far more valuable and the Milwaukee Bucks fell for it. They signed Dele to a 4 year 38 million dollar deal in the summer of 2016 right after winning the chip. The result? He stayed for 1.5 seasons with the Bucks, giving them a modest 6.5 points and 4.5 assists per contest on a substandard 38% shooting from the field. Eventually, he came back to Cleveland when James had already taken off to LA. Dele survived in the league for 3 more years producing end of the bench numbers. He gotta be the epitome of looking good while playing with Lebron only. Iman Shumpert is another high effort guy that got paid big bucks for helping Bron reach the ultimate goal. He came to Cleveland via trade from the Knicks but after serving as a key rotational piece in the 2015 playoff run, the Cavs gave him a 4 year 40 million dollars. The truth is, he never came close to those 9 points and 5 rebounds from 2015 ever again. So paying him 10 million dollars a year just to see him average 7 points on very low efficiency, the Cavs decided to ship him to the Kings in a trade in 2018. Iman jumped around the league for 3 more seasons before finishing his NBA journey in 2021 in Brooklyn at just 30 years of age. And although J.R. Smith and Tristan Thompson were quite better players than the ones mentioned above, we can definitely make the case that they owe Lebron half their fortune. Swish was an electrifying player way before he played with James but his total earnings from 10 seasons with the Hornets, the Nuggets and the Knicks are slightly exceeding 50 million dollars. But after raising the trophy in 2016, he put his signature on a generous 4 year 57 million dollar deal at age 31. That was him saying I did my part, now it's time for me to relax. And his production went on vacation as well, dropping from 12.5 points per game on 40% shooting from distance to just 8 points on a below average 36% efficiency in his next 3 seasons. Tristan on the other hand, who was legitimately an elite offensive rebounder, signed a huge 5 year 82 million dollar deal making him the 6th highest paid forward in the league at the time, equal to Draymond Green. But despite putting up a couple of double-double seasons with 12 points and 10 rebounds per game, Thompson never came close to an all-star level. The name of his agent? Rich Paul. He was the one representing JR as well. And another guy that's underneath Paul's agency is Kentavious Caldwell-Pope who helped LeBron win another title with the Lakers in 2020. For posting 10.5 points per game during the playoffs, KCP was rewarded with a 3 year 40 million dollar contract. Not that he wasn't worth the money, but thanks to LeBron he was considered as the ultimate 3 and D guy, who later on won another chip with the Nuggets. His value was at an all-time high when the Orlando Magic gave him a 3 year 66 million. But instead of a championship caliber shooter, the Magic saw a shadow of KCP who shot a substandard 34% from downtown while averaging only 8.5 points per game. They used him to get Desmond Bain a year later, and Memphis is where Pope's numbers took an additional hit. Last season he shot a horrid 31% from long range making people around the league forget who he was. But now after news broke out that he's joining LeBron once again in Philly, he looks revived and ready to play, probably cause he knows how much James means to his game. And speaking of that, I made a detailed video about the complicated history of LeBron in the Sixers. Click right here to check it out and talk to you in the next one. Peace out!