'Your star player is probably smarter than you' - Arenas says Darvin Ham was never a coach LeBron could respect

Despite being far from the championship-winning form they displayed in 2020 and showing signs of inconsistency, the Los Angeles Lakers have still managed to hold onto the fifth seed in the Western Conference standings courtesy of their 16-12 record. Even though things have been far from smooth, LeBron James has seemed quite content with rookie coach JJ Redick's methods, even during the team's losing streaks.

According to Gilbert Arenas, this contentment stems from JJ's ability to match "The King's" basketball IQ, a quality Darvin Ham apparently lacked, which caused friction between the two.

Arenas on how all-time greats need a smarter coach

Although the Lakers reached the Western Conference Finals in 2023 and even claimed the inaugural NBA Cup next season under Ham, Gilbert argued that James' dissatisfaction with the former coach stemmed from the lack of proper structure or gameplans in clutch time. Rather, Darvin could never earn the 20-time All-Star's respect through his general basketball acumen.

On his podcast, "Agent Zero" clarified that this wasn't arrogance on LeBron's part and that it was a trait that the all-time greats possessed, including Kobe Bryant. Arenas highlighted how "The Black Mamba" struggled to connect with coaches Rudy Tomjanovich and Frank Hamblen in the 2004-05 season simply because his basketball IQ was far superior to theirs. After working with an accomplished head coach in, Phil Jackson, Bean could never accept mediocrity.

"If we just gotta be honest, your star player is probably more smarter than you. And the fact that your star player is smarter than you, that's a hard job to have. Like, you literally have to talk to LeBron's ego… for him to accept you. It's like talking to some genius. You have to outsmart him," Arenas said.

"If you can't talk the same language with them, they don't respect you. They (the all-time greats) think you're an idiot. Same thing with Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant. Think about when he (Kobe) had Rudy T, he wasn't tryna hear sh*t what Rudy T had to say, he had Phil Jackson first…. That's where LeBron is. LeBron's basketball IQ is so high, if you don't speak the same lingo as him, he's not listening to you," he added.