Westbrook was never one of my favorite players during most of his prime, but seeing how Westbrook has handled his last few years helped me gain a lot of respect for him.

Sure he never was the lead guy on a championship team, but his competitiveness is amazing. He played his best through all the Lakers drama. Westbrook also put up 37 in a playoff game in the most recent playoffs. I’m quite a huge fan of this late-career Westbrook.

Kobe - when I first started following the NBA as a kid, Kobe was the player I liked to root against. Near the end of his career I had nothing but love for him.

  • tennis_widower@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    LeBron. Hated the media-centric “decision”. Titles w 3 teams!! And, so far, seems to not have become an evil villian off the court.

    The other way? Used to like Karl Malone. The HIV phobia I could kinda get early on…not a lot of evidence that it was not a concern. But the disavowing kids a la Larry Bird. Loser.

      • MattAU05@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I used to dislike KD, but for whatever reason a little less than a year ago, I became a huge fan. So weird.

    • Spirited-Arugula-672@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I had the exact opposite thing with Bron. I though he was unfairly criticized for moving out of Cleveland as a free agent. He didn’t do anything wrong, and didn’t bitch out with a trade demand - he simply used the proper tools available in his disposal. I didn’t even really hate The Decision, the man did it for charity iirc.

      But now I actively dislike him, because it’s hard to find someone with more misguided opinions. Every time he opens his mouth, he just vomits stupidity and hypocrisy.

    • SaltyTraeYoungStan@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      It’s just become so hard to hate LeBron, he’s really had the ideal career from a media standpoint. Besides the fact that’s he’s still undeniably great at 39 fucking years old, he’s just never really had any big scandals or anything and comes off like a decent guy at all times, and over a 20 year career if you’re a piece of shit it’ll come out.