Danny Green, the former NBA player, has played alongside several basketball legends. From Tim Duncan to LeBron James, he has experienced the pinnacle of basketball. James is widely regarded as one of the top two greatest basketball players of all time. However, his former teammate Green believes that he failed to retain the rockstar aura throughout his career due to the presence of social media.
Green recently appeared on Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s podcast “All the Smoke” to talk about several aspects of his career and how retirement has treated him. While recalling his time with James, he even claimed that while playing with James on your team is easy, sometimes his fans increase the pressure so much on his teammates that it makes it difficult to play with James on the team. However, when discussing the aura around playing with legends like James and Duncan, Green had an interesting observation.
“I think social media’s kind of ruined that for a lot of bigger guys, because I feel like that aura, I saw it a lot earlier on. Like when he was in Cleveland, he was a rock star, by the time he got to LA, when he was in Miami, I feel like they had so much access to him. They see him all the time, they see him on social media, they see him in the clubs or doing parties. People didn’t idolize him as much, and they criticized him, like we’re able to criticize those top guys even more because of social media.”
“When I first got to Cleveland, though the way he carried himself, you see people go crazy everywhere. And you see fans waiting outside of hotels, you see fans waiting, and I mean I’ve seen some fans in college, in Carolina, they wait outside, but it’s not like this. And the fans you don’t expect to see, all different types of fans from all different colors, races cultures.”
“So it was shocking to me to see all white people or Jewish guys or you know Hispanic or Asian being outside of, in the middle of the night, 2-3 in the morning in Detroit or Minnesota or wherever it’s at. You’re like ‘What the hell, why are these people outside with their kids at this time a night’ cause this is their only chance to meet LeBron James or see him. Now social media, see him all the time–that aura the way he carried um it was different and that was my first time really seeing that um and it was special, it was special.”
Green was drafted by the Cavaliers in James’ final year of his first stint with the Cavaliers (in 2009). Therefore, from his rookie season as James’ teammate to playing against him with the Spurs to winning a championship with him in the Lakers, Green has seen it all with James.
Superstar status no longer seems to be about exclusivity in the modern era. Rather, the ability to become a household name that everyone knows and sees all the time. As the social media era has made room in the economy for paid promotions online and brand endorsement deals. This means that the more people see you, the more you can earn. Therefore, while people may not be going crazy to see LeBron James, almost every single child and adult in the country knows who he is. And that’s what distinguishes a superstar from an idol.
