David Griffin Says Building Around LeBron James Made Him “Miserable”

Most general mangers can only dream about adding an all–time great player, such as LeBron James, to their roster. Although most certainly long for a golden situation such as this, former Cleveland Cavaliers GM David Griffin alerted the NBA community yesterday that a life attached to King James is certainly not all it’s made out to be.

“Everything we did was so inorganic and unsustainable and, frankly, not fun. I was miserable,” said Griffin when commenting on pair’s overlapping tenures in Cleveland during an interview on Thursday. Griffin also remarked on the situation even factoring into his decision to leave Cleveland, as he stated, “Literally the moment we won the championship, I knew I was gonna leave. There was no way I was gonna stay for any amount of money.”

Griffin fell under scrutiny often while steering the ship for the Cavs, often fielding complaints regarding his apparent inability to provide James with enough complimentary players to help him out during the team’s championship runs.

“LeBron is getting all the credit and none of the blame. And that’s not fun for people,” said Griffin later on during the interview before also mentioning how he wept after winning the 2016 title because “the game was no longer fun for him.”

Griffin continued to attack James when mentioning his current role aboard Los Angeles Lakers. Proceeding to even question James’s hunger going forward as Griffin next stated, “I don’t think he’s the same animal anymore about winning.”

Coming to his own defense, James issued a tweet assuring his followers that he remains focused on winning despite Griffin’s comments.

Until this fiasco, Griffin and James both appeared friendly with each other. James even publicly endorsed Griffin during his contract disputes with the Cleveland owners a few years back. James also joked with Griffin on Twitter no more than a few weeks ago about about his wife’s wine brewing abilities.

Now serving as GM for the New Orleans Pelicans, Griffin appears ready to jump back into a similar gig however, with a player often hailed as the “next” LeBron James, Zion Williamson set to headline the show on the bayou.

Article by Collin Helwig