Former No. 1 overall pick Kwame Brown has blamed LeBron James for what he believes has been poor development of Dalton Knecht, while also accusing the NBA star of negatively affecting players around him.
Brown, a former Lakers big man, described the 41-year-old James as more than an individual player.
"I thought LeBron was a regular individual, and then I realized he's a part of a group, and LeBron is a machine. It's a marketing machine. He's not an individual," Brown said on The Basketball Show HQ.
"And so once I realized that when you go up against a machine, it gives off toxic waste. So what's made to look good, it destroys things around it."
Brown then pointed to Russell Westbrook and Knecht as examples, arguing that Bronny James' presence on the Lakers affected Knecht's opportunity to develop.
"If you look at the careers that he's destroyed – Westbrook, all the various things before he even started," Brown said. "You got Dalton Knecht, because of his son, he didn't get a chance to develop."
Knecht was selected with the 17th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft but has yet to develop into the player the Lakers hoped for. He is now widely viewed as one of Los Angeles' main trade candidates.
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Brown turns attention to 76ers
Brown also questioned how LeBron's presence could affect players on the Philadelphia 76ers, specifically naming NBA All-Rookie First Team member VJ Edgecombe and 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid.
"When I see him go places, I'm like, 'Okay, I want to know which player is gonna have to be taken away from for this machine to still look like what it is,'" Brown said.
"And we know now it's VJ Edgecombe, and it's going to be Joel Embiid," he added. "If Embiid doesn't play 70 games or 65 games, and they don't win the championship, it's going to be Edgecombe or Embiid."
James joined Philadelphia this summer on a two-year, approximately $8 million deal after ending his tenure with the Lakers.