Ryen Russillo rips Bill Simmons for comparing LeBron James' game to his own: "Worst comparison you've ever made"

Modified Dec 05, 2024 19:51 GMT

NBA: Los Angeles Lakers at Miami Heat - Source: Imagn

Father Time spares no victims, and as great a player and athlete as LeBron James is, he's not going to be the exception to that rule.

The Los Angeles Lakers star has given him a run for his money, but he's about to turn 40 years old, and age is finally starting to show.

That's why NBA analyst Bill Simmons believes he's starting to see himself in James right now.

On Thursday's edition of his podcast, he claimed that James is currently doing the same tricks he did in pickup basketball when he was in his early 40s:

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"I had a run in pickup when I was in my early 40s when you try to keep it going, and then eventually you start learning all these tricks to survive in a pickup game when you're old, and LeBron is doing a lot of those tricks now where I'm like 'I used to do that,'" Simmons said.

Needless to say, his co-host, Ryen Rusillo, wasn't having it at all:

"This is the worst comparison you’ve ever made," Rusillo replied.

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Of course, comparing yourself to LeBron James will always be a bit of a reach, but we get the point.

LeBron James, JJ Redick react to "embarrassing" loss to Heat

The Lakers may have reached a new low on Wednesday night. They lost to the Miami Heat by 41 points, and they've now been outscored by 70 points in the last two games.

That's the worst two-game stretch in franchise history, and LeBron and JJ Redick both used the same word to describe it: embarrassment:

“If you don’t want to come to compete, there’s other issues,” LeBron James said. “We’ve got to figure it out. It’s definitely embarrassing, for sure."

“There has to be some ownership,” Redick said. “I think when a group is not performing well, which happens—and it happens to bad teams, it happens to good teams, it happens to great teams—you can splinter. And it’s easy to not want the ownership. Particularly when it’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed. We’re all embarrassed.”

The Lakers are now 12-10 for the season, falling to the ninth spot in the Western Conference. They have two winnable games up next against the Atlanta Hawks and Portland Trail Blazers.

Nevertheless, anybody can beat anybody in the NBA, and the Lakers will need to put up more effort on defense if they want to turn things around.

About the author

Ernesto Cova is a journalist at Sportskeeda with a PhD in Sports Psychology. His education helped him develop a clearer understanding of the sports world as a whole, including basketball. Ernesto has over eight years of experience in the field, working for Fadeaway World, The Inquisitr, NBA Blast, The Cold Wire and Bolavip, among others.

His favorite team is the Chicago Bulls because of the Michael Jordan era. Jordan is Ernesto's all-time favorite, as he changed the game forever. Ernesto's second favorite was Kobe Bryant because he embodied that same competitive fire and Ernesto watched him play throughout his entire career. Nowadays, Ernesto really likes Stephen Curry, who he believes to be the most influential player of the past 15 years or so.

Ernesto's favorite basketball moment was when Venezuela -- his country -- took down Canada to take home the 2015 FIBA Americas Cup.

When not watching or writing about basketball, Ernesto likes to read and is interested in photography.

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Edited by Steven Kubitza