With more emphasis on individuals controlling where they play due to free agency and forcing trades, loyalty has become a rarity in sports as a franchise player moving from one team to another has become the norm. In many instances, the new club they join is a direct rival to their previous team, or the roadblock that prevents their former team from reaching their goal of winning a championship.
Here are 10 Sports Stars Who Backstabbed their Teams.
Brett Favre
It often goes forgotten that Favre wanted to return to the Green Bay Packers after contemplating retirement before the 2008 season. Packers management is prepared to move on to the Aaron Rodgers era. They traded Favre away to the New York Jets, and Favre went on to have a mediocre season with them. It was not the last the Packers saw of Favre as he moved to the Packers division rival, Minnesota Vikings. In Favre’s first season with the Vikings, he defeated the Packers twice, had arguably his best season from a statistical standpoint, and led the Vikings to the NFC championship game. But Favre did not play as well during the following season, much to the Packers’ delight. His ironman streak of 297 starts ended, and he threw only 11 touchdowns to 19 interceptions as the Vikings missed the playoffs. Favre went on to retire at the end of the season.
Johnny Damon
The one thing that a Red Sox player can do that will forever provoke the ire of the Boston faithful is to wear the New York Yankees pinstripes. That is what Damon did. Seen as the face of the historic World Series run in 2004 for the Boston Red Sox, Damon broke the hearts of the Red Sox nation by joining their hated rival. Damon spent four seasons in New York. He led the Yankees to the 2009 World Series title. He hit .364, four RBIs, and three stolen bases in the series. He will forever be revered by the Boston fan base for what he did for their team and loathed for leaving to their greatest foe.
Chris Chelios
Chelios is known as one of the best defencemen of his generation. After playing with the Montreal Canadiens from 1984-1990, Chelios, a Chicago native, joined his hometown team, the Chicago Blackhawks. As a Blackhawk, Chelios led the team to the Stanley Cup Final in 1992, won two Norris trophies, and was named team captain in 1995. In 1999, Chelios requested a trade to force a contract extension from the Blackhawks but was traded to the Blackhawks’ bitter rival, the Detroit Red Wings instead. He went on to play with the Red Wings until he was 47 years of age and retired in 2009 after winning two Stanley Cups for Detroit.
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LeBron James
Very few athletes are as divisive as LeBron James has become. Drafted number one overall to his home state team in 2003, LeBron provided early signs of greatness to come for the Cleveland Cavaliers fanbase, taking them to the NBA Finals in 2007 and being named MVP in 2009 and 2010. With his pending free agency upon him, LeBron James made a spectacle of his decision on where to play, electing to play with fellow superstar Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat. The decision sent the Cavaliers fans into an instant feeling of betrayal as they began to burn their LeBron James jerseys. For four consecutive years, he made the finals and won his first two championships in Miami. He returned to Cleveland in 2015 and helped them win a championship a year later. But he left again in 2018 for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Terell Owens
In the words of Terell Owens, “I love me some me,” and during his career, he lived those words. Owens threw more than one of his teams’ quarterbacks under the bus during his days in the NFL. He forced a trade in 2004 from the San Francisco 49ers, where he ended up with the Philadelphia Eagles. After having a brilliant 2004 season with the Eagles in which the team made it to Super Bowl XXXIX, he was suspended halfway through the 2005 season. However, he was released before he was signed by the Eagles divisional for the Dallas Cowboys, where he helped them make the playoffs twice in his three years with the team.
Wade Boggs
Hall of Fame Third Baseman Wade Boggs is the second admission to this list that became a Red Sox legend to jump ship and join the empire known as the New York Yankees. Boggs, one of the greatest pure hitters to ever play the game, won five batting titles with the Red Sox and aided them to a World Series appearance in 1986. In 1992 Boggs signed with the Yankees and became a traitor in the Red Sox fans’ eyes. Couple that with the fact that he was a part of the Yankees 1996 World Series team while the Red Sox were still enduring their World Series drought it is still hard for the city of Boston to forgive him.
Patrick Roy
Patrick Roy is considered by many to be the greatest goaltender to ever step on the ice. He won four Stanley Cups in his career, spanning three different decades, and won two each for two different teams. Roy won his first two championships for the Montreal Canadiens. During the 1995-1996 season, Montreal hired Mario Tremblay four games into the campaign. Roy did not have a good relationship with Tremblay, and during a blowout loss to the Red Wings, Tremblay left Roy out on the ice to suffer an 11-1 defeat. As Roy left the ice, he told the Canadiens executives it was his last game in Montreal. He was traded to the Colorado Avalanche, where he won the Stanley Cup that season.
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant’s move to the Golden State Warriors became the biggest case of “if you can’t beat them, join them” in sports history. After failing to close out against the Warriors in the 2016 Western Conference Finals with his Oklahoma City Thunder up 3-1 in the series, Durant joined the team that beat him. Joining a Warriors team that had already gone 73-9 and been to the previous two NBA Finals, Durant ensured that he would be able to win a title. He went on to win back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018 while winning Finals MVP in both years. Durant went on to sign with the Brooklyn Nets following the 2018 season.
Deion Sanders
“Prime Time” became a hired weapon during his tenure in the NFL. As the best cornerback in the game, he covered top receivers on a consistent basis, routinely making game-changing plays. Drafted by the Atlanta Falcons, he helped the team become relevant in the NFL, and when he hit the free agent market, he signed on to the Falcons’ former division rival San Francisco 49ers — a team that was a favorite to win the Super Bowl in 1994. Sanders won his first championship with the team, but the following year became a free agent once again. This time signing to the team, the 49ers had been competing for the right to play in the Super Bowl against the Dallas Cowboys. Sanders went on to win his second Super Bowl with the Cowboys the very next season.
Shaquille O’Neal
The Orlando Magic selected Shaquille O’Neal as the first pick in the 1992 NBA draft, and he did not disappoint. He became the most dominant player the NBA has ever seen. As he teamed with fellow young superstar “Penny” Hardaway, they led the upstart Magic to the 1995 NBA Finals and became a marketable attraction in the NBA. After the 1996 season, Shaq opted out of his contract to join the Los Angeles Lakers. He eventually led the Lakers to three consecutive NBA championships while earning Finals MVP in each of them.
