Ring culture is one of the most hateful things in the NBA right now. Many fans try to disrespect legends for not winning a single ring, sometimes overlooking them for not getting an NBA championship. This happened before, but in recent years, many people have insisted that in order to be great, you have to win a title.
Many great players never won a ring and are still legends of the game, but fans are a little too harsh with them sometimes. Even players who have won the championship are fighting against this, and JR Smith recently recalled a big anecdote with a fan putting him above one of the best players of the 2000s.
During a recent appearance on Gilbert Arenas’ No Chill podcast, the 2x NBA champion recalled the time one fan said he had a better career than Tracy McGrady.
NBA Ring Culture is a disease https://t.co/zSXoPZll8u
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) July 28, 2022
“What are you talking about? No lie, I’m like bro, what are you talking about?” Smith asked.
“But you won, you won two rings,” the fan replied.
“Yeah, like I had a great cast with me. It wasn’t like I was the guy … the reason I won. I wasn’t dropping 40, I was the guy helping them get 40,” said Smith.
This all depends on the context, as Smith quickly explained. He wasn’t the go-to guy in the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers or 2020 Los Angeles Lakers. He was a role player who had a job and exceeded at that. T-Mac was the No. 1 option in all of his teams, but things didn’t line up for him, and he was never able to get that ring.
Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, Steve Nash, Reggie Miller, Karl Malone, and more players were number one options too and never won the title. That doesn’t mean they were unbelievable players and incredible stars. The ring culture is hurting the league, and this will only get worse in the future.
