King James the wrong one to gripe in regard to superteams

It hurts to type this. But Draymond Green is right. LeBron James? I have absolutely no idea what the delusional King is thinking.

“They want to talk about superteam this, superteam that. ‘I never played on a superteam.’ You started the superteam, bro!” said Green, during Golden State’s second NBA championship celebration in three years.

The “bro” Green is referring to is James, who is the same “I never played on a superteam” superathlete he was brilliantly mocking.

After going on a social-media blackout during the playoffs, James has suddenly gone bald, cracked a lame “Office” joke, and defended his superteams of the past.

Please. None of this happens without James. None of it.

Kevin Durant doesn’t join the Warriors.

Miami doesn’t capture backto-back titles and appear in four consecutive Finals from 2011-14.

James doesn’t proudly return to the Cavaliers as a recrowned King, then deliver Cleveland the title it waited so long for.

This isn’t cheap, lazy James hate. He’s still the best current basketball player on the planet and is the only active member of the Association who can rival Michael Jordan’s dominance.

But his delusional denial is so misguided and willfully selfserving that it’s embarrassing.

Especially considering that he knows his basketball history and ignited the modern madness in July 2010.

Revisionist history

“I mean in 2003, the Lakers combined Karl Malone, Gary Payton, Shaq and Kobe. And in ’96, when Jordan was retired, the Rockets joined Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler all on the same team,” James said on a podcast, according to ESPN.

“I definitely didn’t start the superteam, if that’s what (Green) is trying to say. But I just feel like that it’s great that on the day you’re celebrating your championship, my likeness and my name is in your head. I love that.”

Olajuwon had long been on the Rockets and already won two titles by ’96, while Drexler was on the ’95 title team. Jordan was actually out of the league in 1993-94, and his Bulls actually won the title in ’96, so James’ math must be a little off.

As for the ’03 Lakers, that team already had featured its two key superstar pieces (O’Neal, Bryant) for years. Malone joined during his final NBA season and was 40, desperate for a title after always coming up short in Utah. Payton was 35 and in decline, about to start bouncing all over the league.

James took his talents to Miami in the league-changing summer of 2010 with only one goal in mind: to finally win a championship and claim what he failed to accomplish the first time in Cleveland. To do so, the Heat bottomed out their roster, held on to Dwyane Wade (in his prime) and acquired Chris Bosh (also in his prime).

That Decision — nationally televised, tipping off years of livid James hate — created nationwide waves that ultimately helped make Carmelo Anthony a Knick and Deron Williams a Net. Chris Paul joined the Clippers (after almost becoming a Laker), the Rockets got Dwight Howard …

Superstars held their original teams hostage — many in small markets — and publicly toyed with their futures, eventually dictating their own fates. The list goes on and on.

Durant’s leaving the small-market Thunder last summer and signing with the 73-win Warriors was the culmination of a six-year trend.

Two-way street

But James unquestionably started it all with his first superteam. He dictated where he would go, allowed a franchise to build itself around him in his prime, and let the Heat move money around just so he could have two other superstars by his side.

Bro, you started the superteam. And this year, you just lost to a better one — one that actually drafted its core pieces, then added the eventual 2017 Finals MVP on the way to another title.

It’s great being king. Until the league’s other residents wise up and figure out a way to topple the man who started it all.