Former No. 1 pick accuses LeBron James of having ‘toxic’ impact on Lakers stars

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Former Los Angeles Lakers center Kwame Brown did not mince words around LeBron James’ Lakers impact.

When speaking with “The Basketball Show” on Monday, Brown said, “I thought LeBron was a regular individual, and then I realized he’s a part of a group. LeBron is a machine. It’s a marketing machine. He’s not an individual.

“And so, once I realized that when when you go up against a machine, it gives off toxic waste. What’s made to look good, it destroys things around it,” Brown, who never played with LeBron, added.

“And if you look at the careers that he’s destroyed: Westbrook… You got Dalton Knecht; Because of [LeBron’s] son, he didn’t get a chance to develop… And he comes there with Andrew Wiggins as the number one draft pick. I know what that’s like. And when I see him go places, I’m like, okay, I want to know which player is gonna have to be taken away from for this machine to still look like what it is,” Brown continued.

Brown was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2001 NBA Draft and famously spent three seasons with the Lakers as what most considered a bust.

He went on to say that either Joel Embiid or V. J. Edgecombe will take the fall of the 76ers don’t meet expectations this season.

Plus, Brown asserted that the Lakers’ decision to draft Bronny James was, “More made for LeBron’s legacy because he he can’t catch like [Michael Jordan] or Kobe [Bryant] in certain things. But he can say, ‘Listen, I’m the only father son duo that was on the basketball court. I’m the only father-son duo that was in the playoffs, and now it’s going to be the only father-son duo that goes against each other.'”

Brown clearly has some sour grapes, which is manifesting in his sentiment toward LeBron.