LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and 30 Sets of Teammates Who Never Should've Been
Over the past few months, there have been talks that the LeBron James-Dwyane Wade merger on the Miami Heat may have been a mistake due to their obviously similar style of play.
That their strengths don't complement each others' flaws is the main criticism of the duo, and the fact that the team is much better when the two are not playing together is not helping their case.
They join the ranks of many others that include feuding teammates, completely opposite teammates, teammates that flat-out hate each other, and downright strange teammate combinations.
These teammates may have won championships together, and may have even played well together in cases, but are overall just players who did not coexist well, or even fought to no end.
So, without further ado, here are the top 30 strangest teammate combinations throughout sports.
30. CC Sabathia/Prince Fielder
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This combo of players caused Miller Park to slant toward the first base side every time CC pitched.
They had no awkwardness, no hatred, and no animosity toward each other, but they did combine for over 600 pounds of baseball player on the right side of the infield.
I think Bud Selig had to step in to make sure that this combo didn't last much longer, in order to keep the Earth from further tilting on its axis, sending us out of orbit and spiraling into a freezing oblivion.
29. Milton Bradley/Carlos Zambrano
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In 2009, Milton Bradley was quoted as saying about the Cubs, "There is a negativity with the organization and the city," and, "You understand why the Cubs haven't won in 100 years here."
Carlos Zambrano is known to let his crazy sauce boil a little to hot from time to time, and when it does, hide ya kids and hide ya wife.
Well, with these two nutters on the field together from time to time, there is no wonder there is a negativity about the organization.
The only thing that would have made this duo crazier is if Ozzie Guillen was coaching the team to throw his loco hat into the ring.
28. John Rocker/Ozzie Guillen
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The infamous John Rocker was part of the Atlanta Braves from 1998 to 2001; Ozzie Guillen was there in '98 and '99.
John Rocker is known for being the outspoken racist, homophobic, xenophobic pitcher for the Braves, and Guillen is known as being the outspoken crazy manager for the Chicago White Sox.
Maybe it is possible the Rocker set a bad example for Guillen, who is now able to drop a crazy qoute at the drop of a hat.
27. LeBron James/Dwyane Wade
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I didn't want to put these two too high, because they have only played together for a few months, but the strange combination is unmistakable.
LeBron James is an explosive player who is great at creating offense with the ball in his hands, while Dwyane Wade hosts quite the similar set of skills.
They seem awkward together on the floor at times, and even unwilling to step on each other's toes by having the ball too much more than the other.
It is an overly polite duo and each does their best work when the other is on the bench, although I do think that they will end up putting it all together.
26. Gilbert Arenas/Javaris Crittenton
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The NBA has a strict no-gun policy within the team's confines, and apparently neither of these guys either were aware of or cared about this policy.
We know the saga, and how it all came to a head when they pointed unloaded guns at each other over apparent gambling debts.
The incident led to a charge of unlawful possession of firearms for Arenas and both players being suspended indefinitely.
25. Jason Kidd/Jim Jackson
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If it weren't for Toni Braxton (yep, Toni Braxton), the Dallas Mavericks could have been one of the great teams of the late '90s.
The story goes that during a road trip, singer Toni Braxton went to the Mavericks' hotel to pick up Jason Kidd for a date, only to leave with Jim Jackson.
The incident led to Kidd demanding that one of them be traded, leading to Kidd being shipped to the Phoenix Suns in the middle of the 1995-96 season and the eventual downfall of the team for a handful of seasons.
24. Darryl Strawberry/Keith Hernandez
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These two players embodied the 1980s Mets and all of their cocaine-using glory.
The feud came to a head during picture day in 1989 when Strawberry refused to sit next to Hernandez saying, "I only want to sit next to my real friends," after which Hernandez called Strawberry a crybaby.
They then got into a little scrum, forcing their teammates to pry them apart.
23. Ken Griffey Jr./Alex Rodriguez
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Back in the early 1990s, the Seattle Mariners had two of the best youngest hitters in the game, and they would each come to be known as some of the greatest players of the era.
Their personalities were so different, however, that it is crazy to think that these two shared a locker room.
Griffey is one of the most beloved players of the era, always playing the game with the joy and fun of a child, and always giving back to the fans.
A-Rod is one of the most self-absorbed people to ever play the game, completely clashing with Griffey's personality.
22. Larry Johnson/Alonzo Mourning
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They were teammates with the Charlotte Hornets from 1992 to 1995, and hated each other from the start.
Larry Johnson was the number one pick in the 1991 draft, and won the Rookie of the Year Award, which he used to taunt Alonzo Mourning, the number two pick in the 1992 draft, calling the man one year his junior, "young fella."
They were supposed to bring greatness to the Hornets, but it never happened, as Mourning was dealt to Miami in 1995 due to a contract dispute.
This created one of the most heated rivalries of the 1990s.
21. Alex Rodriguez/Derek Jeter
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Derek Jeter embodies everything that someone could like about the New York Yankees. He is the classic Yankee, admired even by those who hate the organization.
Alex Rodriguez is everything people hate about the New York Yankees. He is highly paid, self-absorbed, and seems to care more about himself than the fans or the organization.
Their occupancy of the left side of the infield has brought up constant tabloid rumors of their hatred of each other for years.
20. Dennis Rodman/Steve Nash
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Steve Nash is one of those guys that everybody can like. He's a Canadian basketball player who never seems to have a problem with anyone else in the NBA.
Dennis Rodman is a crazy man who will pick a fight with anybody in the league while wearing a wedding dress.
The two were brief teammates with the Dallas Mavericks, but seeing them together on the floor today would seem way too awkward to ever make sense.
19. Cal Ripken Jr./Albert Belle
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These are two guys who shouldn't even be in the same sentence as each other, let alone on the same team.
Cal Ripken Jr. is the guy that, in the '90s, you would want your child to look up to. He was a hard worker and a beautiful part of the game.
Albert Belle was a lunatic. He may have been the craziest man to ever play the game, and to see him on the field with Ripken is like seeing Satan waltzing with the Pope.
18. Wade Boggs/Fred McGriff
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Wade Boggs and Fred McGriff were great players on their own accord, but near the end of their respective careers, nobody would sign them, so they went to the new whipping boy of baseball, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Seeing those two, after years of greatness, pull on a Tampa Bay jersey day after day was one of the most unsettling things I have ever witnessed.
17. Michael Westbrook/Stephen Davis
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There had been animosity between the two Washington Redskins for years before Michael Westbrook finally lashed out.
Apparently, Davis had berated Westbrook endlessly in the past, but he had always walked away from the taunts.
Westbrook had had enough in 1997, as during a training camp session, Westbrook pounded Davis, all of which was caught by TV cameras.
16. Michael Jordan/Kwame Brown
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Beyond the obvious juxtaposition of one of the greatest players of all time and one of the greatest busts of all time, MJ may have helped push Brown toward being a bust.
It has been reported that MJ repeatedly reduced Kwame Brown to tears in front of the whole team.
It goes without saying that if you were expected to be a great player, being emotionally abused by the game's greatest ever would not be a push in the right direction.
15. Jerry Rice/Terrell Owens
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Terrell Owens played with Jerry Rice near the end of Rice's career.
It is odd to think that the greatest wide receiver of all time played along someone who was probably as talented as him, yet extremely outspoken.
Two of the greatest wide receivers, yet most opposite personalities, playing together is an odd thought today.
14. Wayne Gretzky/Brett Hull
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The Great One and Brett Hull are good friends to this day, and when they played together for the St. Louis Blues in 1996, a championship was expected to come of it.
Alas, the two never really meshed together as a unit, and two of the greatest players of the '90s only played together for half of a season and were publicly criticized by their coach for not working together well enough.
They did come back together for one last hurrah, as Gretzky coached Hull on the Coyotes in 2005.
13. Alexander Mogilny/Shayne Corson
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Trouble emerged in Toronto when a rumor about Shayne Corson and Alexander Mogilny's wife arose.
It seemed that Corson was driving it hard to Mogilny's wife's net, and any time there is noise like that running around a clubhouse, it is sure to create some trouble.
Mogilny had much of the rest of the team on his side in the feud that created a rift on the whole team.
12. Steve Garvey/Don Sutton
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Don Sutton hated Steve Garvey, referring to him as the "All-American Boy," hating the attention the media gave him.
The two finally came to blows after Garvey confronted Sutton, leading to their all-too-infamous clubhouse brawl.
The two did not have many friends in the clubhouse, respectively, as when they were fighting, someone yelled to pull them apart or else they would kill each other.
Dodgers catcher Joe Ferguson retorted, "Good."
11. Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan
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We all know the story of the infamous crowbar attack on Kerrigan by an acquaintance of Tonya Harding.
The two were teammates on the 1994 Olympic team, in which Kerrigan ended up winning the silver medal. Tonya, for her efforts, won nothing.
10. Donovan McNabb/Terrell Owens
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The two constantly quarreled, and never seemed to like each other.
Unlike T.O's previous quarterbacks that he fought with, he was constantly at odds with McNabb, arguing on the sidelines, sniping at him during interviews and demanding the ball more often.
Their breakup after they lost the Super Bowl to the Patriots was coming all too fast, and it was necessary to end one of the most troubled relationships in NFL history.
9. Adrian Dantley/Isiah Thomas
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Dantley and Thomas did not have the most publicized feud, but Dantley always hated that Thomas got more shots than him.
In exchange, Thomas always insisted that he was the better player and deserved the bulk of the shots over Dantley.
Dantley's run in Detroit came to an end in 1989 as he claims Isiah ran him out of town in order to get his friend Mark Aguirre onto the team.
8. Ty Cobb/Everybody
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Ty Cobb is one of the worst teammates in the history of sport, but it wasn't just Cobb who was to blame on the Tigers.
Cobb's tormentors at the beginning of his career, namely Matty McIntyre, Ed Killian, Ed Siever and Charlie Schmidt, hated Cobb, even giving him a nervous breakdown in 1906.
The four tormentors were eventually traded away, as the ownership realized that Cobb was the best player on the team, and the four were gone by 1910.
7. John Terry/Steven Gerrard
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This summer, England's World Cup team did not fare too well, with a subpar performance leading to criticism from the whole country.
Problems seem to have arisen after Steven Gerrard took the captain's spot away from John Terry due to a reported love affair between Terry and a teammate's former girlfriend.
Terry was upset at being sacked as captain, and roused an anti-Gerrard faction in the clubhouse.
6. Lance Armstrong/Alberto Contador
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The much-publicized feud between the two cycling teammates was the talk of the 2009 Tour de France.
Contador was supposed to be the man on the team, and apparently was upset with the inclusion of the popular cycler, creating a bit of hatred on the team.
Contador was quoted as saying, "My relationship with Lance Armstrong is zero. I have never admired him and never will."
Harsh.
5. Barry Bonds/Jeff Kent
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Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds had a not-so-behind-the-scenes feud the whole time they were teammates, but finally went public in 2002 with a dugout brawl.
Kent said it had happened at least half a dozen times before and then demanded to be off the team.
They finally parted at the end of the season, when Kent signed with the Astros.
4. Shaquille O'Neal/Kobe Bryant
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The Shaq and Kobe feud is one of the most publicized over the past decade, and one of the largest in NBA history.
Shaq hated Kobe, Kobe hated Shaq, but they put up with each other because they won championships.
It all came to a head when Shaq was traded to the Miami Heat, vilifying Kobe; but since, Shaq has won one more championship, while Kobe's won two.
How does that taste, Shaq?
3. Billy Martin/George Steinbrenner
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They were not teammates in the sense that they played together, but they were both part of the New York Yankees front office.
The relationship between the two could only be described as ugly.
Billy Martin was the manager under Steinbrenner five different times and the two always exchanged barbs through the media the whole time Martin was there.
2. Shaq/Kobe/Karl Malone/Gary Payton
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This was one of the first times in the NBA where we saw a "throw as many superstars onto a team and see what sticks" team.
They did work out for a while, dominating teams and making it to the 2004 NBA Finals, but they ended up losing to the Detroit Pistons—a team, not just a glob of stars.
The team broke apart the following year.
Plus, it was weird to see Karl Malone play without John Stockton.
1. Scottie Pippen/Charles Barkley
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After playing with Michael Jordan for so many years, it would be weird to see Scottie Pippen play with anyone else, but Charles Barkley was a downright odd combo.
They never really liked each other, with Pippen calling Barkley fat and selfish, and wanting to leave the team after only a season.
Pippen always criticized Barkley's drive to win a championship and always refused to apologize for his words, leaving animosity between the two for years.
Pippen was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers the following season.
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