Ray Allen Reveals How LeBron James Really Is As A Teammate

Ten-time All-Star Ray Allen had a nice convo with Shams Charania about his career. There was no chance for him to ‘forget’ his time with the Boston Celtics, LeBron James and his shot against the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 NBA Finals.

“Toss-up between Sam Cassell and LeBron James. Sam was a guy you wanted to go to battle with. He wouldn’t quit on you and do whatever he could. He never wore bad body language. LeBron is a guy who you’ll have fun with, he’ll compete with you, but he is always one of the guys. He never made himself bigger than the next man,” Ray Allen said of his two favorite teammates.

He also spoke about the chance to make a comeback after playing for the Heat in 2014. “I was never close to coming back, man. Nobody presented anything tangible to make me question and say, ‘You know what: I like this opportunity, it’s sound, it makes sense. Let’s look at this.’ Nobody did that. So I stayed retired. As much as I put in to being prepared, it’s tougher as an older player to stay ready because you get tight quicker.”

“So I was curious what teams that wanted my services, if they were actually going to use me. Some teams were discussing having me at the end of the bench mentoring our younger players. I don’t think I wanted to come back like that. I wanted to play to help if I came back. Don’t look at me and tell me that I could still play. We want you to play, but we want you to sit on the bench and mentor the younger guys. What was tricky was, it was all about what a team would offer me financially, because that was their commitment to me that they were going to play me in their rotation because I can help them win,” Allen said.

Allen prefers not to rate his shots, but he sure admires his own shot against the Spurs in 2013. Nobody will ever forget that.