How Does This Affect LeBron’s Legacy?
Feb. 7, 2023. Los Angeles Lakers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder. The day the King, The Chosen One, LeGM, LeYabadabadodontknowOldNavy became the NBA’s all time leading scorer, passing the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
The compulsive liar James has a resume rivaled by only one other player, Michael Jordan. The LeBron vs. Michael Jordan debate has been a conversation for years now, but did LeBron finally cement himself as the greatest basketball player ever?
Yes.
There will never be a player that everyone believes is the best player of all time, but LeBron has made his case to be considered the G.O.A.T. and I would like to stick my neck out and say that LeBron James is the greatest player in NBA history. (Please follow me back on Instagram @kingjames.)
Being born in 2003 has definitely affected my stance on this debate, and coincidentally, LeBron was drafted into the NBA in 2003. Weird right? It’s a question that crosses my mind every once in a while, but I’ll just put it out there now for everyone to think about. Where would LeBron James be if not for Hayden Lee? I guess we’ll never know.
When I first started watching basketball, there was one player that got all of the attention: LeBron James. At the time, he played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and had not yet won an NBA Finals. But the very next year, he joined the Miami Heat along with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade, forming a team I would grow to hate because they were so good.
Those next four years would be torture, as I had to watch LeBron and the Heat play in four straight NBA Finals and win back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013 as he began to build his case for the greatest player of all time. I was rooting against him for “what he did to the NBA.”
I was still an inexperienced basketball fan at the time, but I knew something was up with this “LeBron” guy. Seriously, can you imagine if he was working somewhere like Jo-Ann Fabrics with that name? LeBron is a name that was always meant to stick out.
It was not until he returned home to play for the Cleveland Cavaliers again that I started to seriously consider him to have a chance to become better than Jordan. In his second stint with the Cavaliers, LeBron did not miss a beat, going to the finals for another four straight years to make it eight straight years that LeBron took his LeTeam to LeFinals.
I don’t think I need to do an entire LeBron career summary, because if you’re reading this, you know who LeBron is, and if you want to know what his career looks like, Google him. My point is, it doesn’t matter. LeBron’s legacy is built on longevity, and every year, he has inched closer to being considered the G.O.A.T. Even I was on the Jordan G.O.A.T. train for a while, but as time passed, I got to a point where I can’t deny it anymore.
People talk about how Jordan has a better finals record (6-0) than LeBron, (4-6) but he doesn’t have the longevity that LeBron has. Personally, I would rather watch my G.O.A.T. lose in the NBA Finals than to BILL LAIMBEER in three straight years. That’s like saying Eli Manning is the greatest NFL player ever because he has never lost in the Super Bowl. We all know that Eli Manning is a derp and would be crushed if he had to face off against Kirk Cousins in the Super Bowl.
Watching LeBron on the Lakers has been sad in a way, because I did not appreciate him while he was still at the top of his game. 2018 LeBron is the greatest NBA player to ever touch grass, he beat the greatest team ever, and he has won a championship with three different teams. LeBron is a talent we have never seen before and likely won’t see again.
Becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer has just begun to put things into perspective for me, so I understand why some people may think Michael Jordan is the G.O.A.T. But for me, I just can’t call a player I have literally never seen play basketball in real time the G.O.A.T.
Sitting at 38,390 points, LeBron now stands alone at the top of the NBA’s all time leading scorers list, while Jordan was “only” able to score 32,292 points. That’s over 6,000 reasons why you should stop pretending like you were born in the 80s or 90s and appreciate the greatness that is right in front of you, it might not be on display for that much longer. Skol.
Write to Hayden Lee at Hayden.Lee@my.smsu.edu