Iman Shumpert is in the Dancing with the Stars finals, which is shocking for anyone who saw him dance early in the season.
However, despite lower average scores, he has improved so much from week to week that he has gained a lot of fans.
For anyone who believes the purpose of Dancing with the Stars is to reward improvement, he is the man to beat.
However, this comes as no surprise to the former NBA Champion.
Iman Shumpert compares Dancing with the Stars to basketball
No basketball player has ever made it as far as Iman Shumpert has in Dancing with the Stars Season 30.
This might make his explanation of why he is doing so well surprising. While talking to Sports Illustrated, Iman compared dancing to basketball.
When taking criticism from the judges, Iman compared that to life in the NBA.
“It’s not as tough for me, man, I play basketball,” Iman said. “I don’t think people realize how hard the criticism is surrounding the game that I’ve played.
“My whole life my father raised me on constructive criticism. He’s always planted a battery in me to want to take on challenges and take on things that I’m not so strong in. It kind of goes hand-in-hand with being a man.”
He then talked about how hard it is to train for Dancing with the Stars.
“I think that the biggest challenge is trying to remember the steps to music that I’m familiar with as far as dancing and then trying to dance within the structure of whatever that ballroom dance is,” Iman said.
“Sometimes you’re listening to a song and you want to just move the way you want to move, but you’ve got to stay strict to that ballroom style. That’s probably why some of my scores don’t reflect the showmanship that a crowd would see.”
Iman Shumpert in the Dancing with the Stars finals
Iman Shumpert has the lowest average scores of everyone in the Dancing with the Stars finals.
However, he has a lot of supporters.
While Cody Rigsby has a ton of Peleton fans voting for him every week, his scores are almost as low as Iman’s.
The two to beat are JoJo Siwa and Amanda Kloots, but no one can count out Iman, especially if he can pull out a freestyle in the final week that can let him display the showmanship he knows he possesses.
Dancing with the Stars airs on Monday nights at 8/7c. The Season 30 finale takes place on Monday night, November 22.