DeShawn Stevenson still has words about his beef with LeBron James
DeShawn Stevenson still has words about his beef with Cleveland Cavaliers’ superstar LeBron James.
Prior to the postseason, King James Gospel ran a story about rapper Too Short recounting the 2008 beef between DeShawn Stevenson (who currently plays in the BIG3 3-on-3 league) and Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James. For those that don’t remember, the beef started when Stevenson said James was overrated. When asked to respond to Stevenson’s comments, James responded by saying that’s like Jay Z responding to Soulja Boy.
Now, that’s something fans have seen over the years. James has had a similar response when asked about Lance Stephenson’s “choking” motion (quote transcribed by ESPN’s Brian Windhorst):
"“Lance Stephenson? You want a quote about Lance Stephenson?” James said after the Heat’s practice at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. “I’m not even going to give him the time. Knock it off.”"
In an interview with radio host, Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson, Stevenson spoke on his beef with James last week. There’s a bit of revisionist history by Stevenson, who talks about camaraderie and having the other player’s back while forgetting he started it all by calling James overrated.
Here’s a partial transcript of the interview below:
[interview has been edited and condensed for clarity]
Scoop B: A couple of months ago we had the rapper Too $hort on and Too $hort talked about the time that Jay-Z wrote the diss track called “Blow The Whistle”. When you first heard that song what were you thinking?
Stevenson: I thought it was dope cause it’s Jay but it just caught me off guard because you know, I don’t rap, so you know it was just a weird situation. I thought it was clever because I’m from California, Fresno … so honestly at the moment it’s nothing against Jay. It was more about LeBron and the situation that was going on.
Scoop B: Of course you and LeBron have made peace since then. How did the whole beef between you and him get started back then?
Stevenson: It was just something I heard in the locker room. Long situation that got back to me and I felt that, with that type of player, you shouldn’t be talking in the locker room and doing stuff like that.
Scoop B: Can you say what happened?
Stevenson: I don’t like to go back and forth because it’s getting kind of old but to me it was disrespectful. I felt like it’s a brotherhood and I felt like I came straight out of high school and you did too so we should be uplifting [each other] not trying to hold each other down.
Scoop B: You came out of High School in the early 2000’s. I had your Utah Jazz number nine jersey. Too $hort said the reason Jay actually came out with the song was because he was recruiting LeBron to come to the Brooklyn Nets. You’re a former Net. From your perspective, could you see the marketing idea behind him making a song like that?
Stevenson: Of course, for sure. I mean you look at LeBron right now you can’t deny he’s a hell of a player so it’s kind of like him having his back and that’s why I didn’t look at it as a certain type of situation. But you know, being from Cali… Too $hort knows we Cali people we move different. You can’t do those type of things so I just took it for what it is.
Scoop B: Soulja Boy was a part of this whole beef. It came about because LeBron said comparing you to him was like comparing Soulja Boy to Jay-Z. How the heck did Soulja Boy actually insert himself into it?
Stevenson: He didn’t. It’s just the kind of thing where people know what lames and people are so when people move they bring other people into it. It had nothing to do with Jay, it had nothing to do with Soulja Boy. It had to do with me and him. I wasn’t the type of person to pull those type of people in so that’s why I don’t like talking about it because I feel like the more I talk about it the more it makes me a lame but it’s a lot of stuff that I let go and it is what it is. I came out publicly, I think it was my last year. and I was like “I think it would be dope to play with him”… I just let it go because at the end of the day I don’t move like that. I don’t hate on the next people. I just worry about my family. What you’re doing or what anybody is doing I just feel like it’s better [to] to uplift.
[end of interview]
Aside from the bit of revisionist history, there are two things that stand out. Firstly, Stevenson may have just said how James responded in their beef was lame. Second, Stevenson seems to have matured a lot since he was last in the NBA.
In any case, I wouldn’t expect James to have anything to say back to Stevenson regarding these remarks. For one, James seems to be above personal battles off-the-court nowadays, as he’s matured as well. Secondly, he’s on some beach right now having the time of his life.
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