"Scariest Sh*t I have Ever Seen": NBA Champion Makes Major Confession About LeBron James

LeBron James has been playing in the NBA for 23 years now. He is the most tenured player in league history and could set another record if he decides to suit up for season 24. Given his longevity in the league, James has had different versions of himself. Throughout his career, James has had four phases.

The first phase was when he made his mark on the league when he was drafted to the Cleveland Cavaliers. His second phase was when he joined the Miami Heat and became the league's most hated player. Then came his redemption phase, delivering his promise to bring home a championship for Cleveland. Finally, his most recent phase was fulfilling his desire to live a successful life in Los Angeles.

Each phase in his career has arguably been like witnessing four different primes of LeBron. Former NBA champion Iman Shumpert, who helped Bron win his third ring, shared his thoughts on which version of the King he thinks was the scariest to deal with.

"I think the best version I saw Bron was, you remember the year Dirk won? That next year (Bron) came back, when him and D-Wade vowed to not settle for threes …they were just attacking," Shumpert said on 'ALL THE SMOKE' podcast.

"It was vicious," Shumpert added. "I was like, 'Bro, what the f**k are we supposed to do with that? Like what is that n**a?’ They’re big as s**t. D-Wade and Bron literally passing it back and forth, and it was just downhill … I feel like that was the scariest Bron to deal with. … I was like, ‘That was the scariest sh*t I’ve ever seen in my life.’"

Shumpert's sentiments weren't an exaggeration, given how the 2011-2012 season was the year James won his first championship in his career.

Looking Back at LeBron James' Heatles Era

Back in 2010, LeBron James made the shocking decision to leave his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers, to form a big three with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh with the Miami Heat. It was a move that turned James into the most hated player in the league at the time. One could call it his supervillain arc.

However, looking at it from his perspective, it's understandable why James formed the Heatles. LeBron got tired of always losing in the playoffs and grew desperate to win the coveted NBA championship. The result? He took his talents to South Beach and went on to win two championships in his four seasons with the Heat.

From 2012 to 2013, King James was on top of the basketball world, winning two back-to-back championships while winning two consecutive league MVP awards. James dominated the Eastern Conference, making his Heat team almost impossible to beat. Not even the Boston Celtics big three of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen could stop him.

Funny enough, Allen joined the Heat in the 2012-2013 season due to his frustrations with the Celtics for always losing since winning the championship in 2008.

James and the Heatles then beat some elite Western Conference foes in their two championship runs. In 2012, they beat the young big three of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook. While they were still trying to make names for themselves at the time, they all eventually became league MVPs in the following seasons.

In 2013, the Heat dethroned the tenured San Antonio Spurs, who had the OG big three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili.

While many criticize LeBron for taking the easy path to his championship aspirations, his competition in the West was equally competitive as the Heat roster. Had James been alone again, his team might've replicated the same result from his first finals appearance in 2007, getting swept by the Spurs.