To celebrate National Best Friends Day, I thought about doing a post on the Banana boat gang (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony) but thought it would be more fun to look back at former teammates who wouldn't be caught dead riding a big banana together.
This list and video was put together by YouTuber Nolavp and obviously put together based off perceptions. We do not know for a fact any of these guys actually "hate" each other but the accepted assumption is they weren't exchanging Christmas gifts.
- Ray Allen & Rajon Rondo
As evident by the recent Celtics reunion on KGArea21 and Ray Allen's biography, Rondo and most of the members of the 2008 Celtics championship team have no interest in having Jesus around and Jesus has no intentions of saving any of them. - Dwight Howard and Steve Nash
Sports Illustrated actually put them on a cover with the headline "Now this is going to be fun." Watching the "Big 3" of Kobe, Nash and Howard was anything but. The former MVP questioned the work ethic of the always-joking Dwight and after just one season in La La land, Howard left for Houston, where he is also hated. - Michael Jordan and Kwame Brown
I would actually have a lot of other players on this list before Brown, especially Reggie Theus but I'll tell that story another day. As for Brown, rumor is Jordan used to bully him in practice, destroyed his confidence and even made the former #1 pick (by Jordan) cry in practice. - Jason Kidd and Jimmy Jackson
Two of the three J's reportedly had issues with each other after the two started fighting over singer Toni Braxton. They have both denied the story but Jackson was wearing a Nets uni less than a year later. - Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen
Everyone but some delusional Houston fans knew pairing the past-their-prime greats with past-his-prime Hakeem in the hopes of a bucket list championship was going to be a bust. Barkley was mad from the start because he had to give up money for the team to sign the guy who won a ring against Barkley years earlier. After one season, Pippen was trying to force a trade to the Lakers and Barkley was willing to pack his bags and buy him a first class ticket to LA. After his departure, Pippen was very vocal about how lazy he thought "Chuck's fat butt" was. - Kyrie Irving and Dion Waiters
Waiters is known for having a lot of confidence and always feeling like he's the best player on a team. Kevin Durant has even backed up this statement. He reportedly felt under utilized in Cleveland and had issues with members of the organization because they favored #1 pick Kyrie Irving, who Waiters thought wasn't as good as him. - Magic Johnson and Maurice Lucas
Jerry West has an almost flawless record when it comes to trades but bringing "The Enforcer" to the Showtime Lakers was one of his rare mistakes. According to The Sportster, Magic Johnson once walked off a court, went to coach Pat Riley and said, "Get him out of the game, I can't play with this motherfucker anymore." He was traded a few months later. - Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton
They almost had a real shoot-out in the locker room over a gambling debt Arenas didn't feel like paying. I don't think we need to say much more but I will say Crittention is a real loser everyone should hate. In 2015, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for killing a mother of four children. He was also accused of slapping the mother of his child while she was breastfeeding their 1-day old child. - Tony Parker and Brent Barry
Parker supposedly was cheating on his wife, actress Eva Longoria, with Brent Barry's wife. That will do it. - Shaq and Kobe Bryant
Shaq is cool with Kobe now and will tell you his beef with him was just great marketing and they never had issues. That's BS! I can't share these stories but I've heard numerous (hilarious and shocking) ones about the two from a couple former teammates that makes me feel very comfortable saying these two hated each other's guts during much of their three-peat. What I can share is a link to a Wikipedia page dedicated just to their feud and this video of Kobe apologizing to Shaq for telling detectives during his rape investigation that Shaq spent over a million dollars on women hush money.
Honorable mention goes to these guys...
- Carmelo Anthony and Tim Hardaway Jr
- Kevin Garnett and Wally Szczerbiak
- Kobe Bryant and Smush Parker
- LeBron James and Delonte West
BONUS VIDEOS