Is LeBron James REALLY a coach-killer?

Over the course of his two decades in the NBA, Lakers star LeBron James has seen just about every manner of NBA coach, from estimable former players like Paul Silas (his rookie season coach) to coaching lifers like Erik Spoelstra on through to contemporaries like JJ Redick with the Lakers. He has had nine coaches in all, and during his 22 years in the game, some of those coaches have been ousted seemingly ahead of their time.

And when it happens, fingers usually get pointed at the star player. Since there's no bigger star in the NBA than James, it stands to reason that he has been portrayed more than once as a guy who pushes to have coaches he does not like removed.

That reputation does precede his second go-round in Cleveland, which came after his four years in Miami wrapped up in 2014. But it was his relationship with Cavs coach David Blatt in 2016 that cemented James's reputation as a manipulator who got coaches fired.

Did LeBron James Call for David Blatt's Firing?

But Ty Lue, who was Blatt's associate head coach in the 2015-16 season, said the perception of James is false and that Blatt was let go because he had come from Europe and had not adjusted to the NBA. Blatt led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2015, where they lost to Golden State, but Lue said Blatt was not quite comfortable with NBA players.

"When you coach overseas, you are the face of the team," Lue said on the "Club Shay Shay" podcast. "Like, what you say goes, no matter what. No matter what players are there, you are the face of the team. When you come to the NBA, the players are the face of the team. And so it’s a different dynamic. So, understand that dynamic that, as much as you want to go in and go crazy and cuss somebody out, you just might can’t do it today, you know what I am saying?"

Lue said, too, that players--not just James--were frustrated with Blatt's Xs and Os. Lue took over for Blatt after his removal.

He added: "It just didn’t fit our team and what we were trying to do. I think guys got frustrated with the process and got frustrated with how he did things, offensively and defensively."