LeBron James goes by the nickname "King James," has won two consecutive NBA championships with the Miami Heat and has earned the league's Most Valuable Player Award four out of the last five years, but one of the most revered players in league history admits that there is one thing that gets him jealous--looking at the stats of Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant.
"I get jealous sometimes when I look over at KD and he's like 16-for-32 [from the field] and then 14-for-34. ... Man," James told ESPN.
James is setting a career-high by shooting 59.1 percent from the field this season but is 18th in the league with an average of 16.1 field goal attempts per game. James admitted he could take more shots but he doesn't like taking forced looks.
"I'm not much of a forced-shot guy," James explained to ESPN. "But there are games where I have it going, and then at the end of the game, I'm like, damn, I shot just 12-for-16? Why don't I get up at least six or seven more? I definitely notice it."
Durant is shooting 48.8 percent this season from the field and chucks up an average of 19.2 attempts per game while he is third in the league with 711 shot attempts, compared to James who has 580.
With Oklahoma City suffering through injuries, Durant is expected to carry the load as he is a three-time scoring champion while James is one of "The Big Three" in Miami where he shares the scoring and doesn't have to take as much of a shooting role.
James admitted that he wondered what would happen if he threw up more shots per game.
"First of all, you have to have an unbelievable mindset to get up 30 shots," James said, according to ESPN. "I always think about it, though. If I get up high-20s, 30 shots a game, what could I do today, with the way I'm playing?"
The Heat host The Thunder on Jan. 29. Hopefully "King James" will keep his jealousy under control.
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