Getting slapped with a label isn’t fun, right? Iman Shumpert knows that all too well. Throughout his decade in the NBA, he was mostly boxed in as the classic “3-and-D” guy. But there was one team that actually gave him the freedom to do more, and Iman made sure to give them their flowers. Only problem? In the middle of the praise, he accidentally called out the wrong name. Lucky for us, an NBA All-Star wasn’t about to let that slide and jumped in to correct him.

In a clip shared by NBA Central on X, Iman Shumpert gave his flowers to the Sacramento Kings during the latest episode of his No Limit podcast on the All In YouTube channel: “People don’t understand how bad I hated that three-and-D role, I hated it. I think now I’m out of the league because I wouldn’t sign up for that. When I went to Sacramento, I was playing combo guard,” Shumpert said. “David [Blatt] had me able to do my [stuff]. This is where I’m comfortable, and I’m guarding what I need to be guarding, so it’s like, I’m effective.“ Well, did you catch the mistake?

Well, De’Aaron Fox was quick to lend a hand. He reposted the clip on X with a facepalm emoji, writing: “Dave Joerger not David Blatt 🤦🏾‍♂️.” And honestly, if you think back to that 2018–19 Kings team, you can see exactly why Fox felt the need to clear it up.

See, the Kings were stuck in a 16-year playoff drought, but that season under Dave Joerger felt different. They still didn’t crack the postseason, but 39 wins were the most they had since 2005–06—a legit bright spot in an otherwise rough stretch. And a mid-season trade brought Shumpert to town, shipping George Hill to Cleveland. That move sparked something fun in Sacramento, something fans hadn’t seen in years.

The roster had a young Fox, Buddy Hield, Bogdan Bogdanović, Marvin Bagley III, Willie Cauley-Stein, plus vets like Nemanja Bjelica — and Shump quickly became the loud voice in that locker room. He even branded them with a nickname that stuck: “We’re ‘The Scores,’” Shumpert told Jordan Ramirez of NBA.com back in 2018. “We come, we try to score fast, we try to score at a high rate. We have a lot of young bodies. It’s cool to be on a team where we don’t know who’s going to score it.” That summed up their identity perfectly.

And the numbers back up Shumpert’s point about not being just a “3-and-D” piece. In his 42 games with Sacramento, his usage rate was 15.2%, the highest since his early Knicks years, while keeping a 0.511 true shooting percentage. He still let it fly from deep (three-point attempt rate: .580), but mixed in drives, secondary playmaking (assist percentage 10.7%), and brought juice on defense too (steal rate 2.0%, block rate 1.6%).

Basically, the Kings gave him more freedom, and he showed he could handle, defend, create, and score instead of being boxed into one role. Looking back, he even admits he should’ve pushed harder for that role, saying he probably needed to be more of a “diva.”

Iman Shumpert’s battle with the 3-and-D label in Cavs and Knicks

Iman Shumpert doesn’t sugarcoat it when he looks back on his career. He’s clear about one thing he’d change — being louder, more demanding, especially in those early Knicks years. “If I could tell my younger self something, I would’ve told myself to be a diva,” Shumpert admitted. “I should’ve threw my hands up and down like, ‘Y’all need to trade me somewhere where I could play point guard.’” Instead, he kept adjusting, year after year, fitting into whatever role the team asked of him.

When New York drafted him 17th overall in 2011, the plan was for him to be a versatile combo guard — a guy who could bring the ball up but still had the size and athleticism to thrive on the wing. And in a way, that’s how it started. Mike D’Antoni slotted him in at shooting guard, and he even got a short look at point. But his defensive instincts were too good to ignore. Soon, he was tasked with locking up stars, hitting threes, and before long, the “3-and-D” tag became his identity.

Shumpert himself put it best: “And don’t get me wrong. I feel like I still had a great career. I got to play on a championship team [LeBron James’ Cavs], got to play in the championship multiple times, which don’t happen for a lot of guys. But I feel like on my personal development side, I suffered cuz, every year.”

The numbers explain why coaches leaned so heavily on that version of him. His career steal rate was 2.3%, with a defensive box plus-minus of 0.7 overall that peaked at +1.6 as a rookie. He stacked up 11.4 defensive win shares across his career. On the offensive end, his three-point attempt rate topped 50% by 2016–17. Put all that together, and you’ve got the perfect 3-and-D profile — a guy who could hound top guards while spacing the floor. That’s exactly what earned him staying power, especially in Cleveland alongside LeBron James, where he played his role to perfection and helped deliver that unforgettable 2016 championship.

But here’s the twist — it wasn’t like Iman Shumpert was never given a shot to break free from that box. The Cavs, under Tyronn Lue, actually experimented with him as a backup point guard to see if that playmaker spark was still there. He held his own, but soon enough, he was nudged right back into the 3-and-D lane. Add in the nagging injuries that kept surfacing, and you can understand why he now wishes he had forced the issue earlier, instead of letting the label define his career.