As LeBron James creeps closer and closer to the record for most points scored in NBA history, the age-old question rises to the surface.
Is LeBron the greatest basketball player of all time?
At the moment, LeBron is 36 points away from the record, and will have his chance to break it when the Lakers host Oklahoma City on Tuesday. And to put it on the record, I am a Celtics fan through and through who has had his heart broken time after time by this man – whether he was in Cleveland, or Miami.
Growing up, I always said Jordan was better than LeBron. My reasoning? Well, six rings and never losing in the NBA Finals. LeBron has four rings, but lost six times in the biggest game. Although, rings cannot be everything because if that were the case, Bill Russell would be considered the greatest of all-time, right?
Of LeBron’s six finals losses, you can argue the chips were stacked against him when he got swept by the superteam in Golden State. A team that had Durant, Steph, Klay, and Draymond was always going to be tough for any team to beat, especially since the Cavs’ second-best player, Kyrie Irving, was unavailable.
That said, LeBron did beat one of the greatest regular season teams of all-time in the finals 4-3 in the Warriors, who needed to add Durant to their team to take down LeBron the following year.
Now that we’ve discussed the finals, we have to look at the regular season and what LeBron has been doing since he entered the league in 2003 as a 19-year-old kid. James (in his career) has averaged more than 27 points per game with over seven assists and seven rebounds. And he is still putting up monster numbers on a poorly-constructed Lakers team. Currently, James is averaging 30 points, seven assists, and eight rebounds in his 20th season.
LeBron’s portfolio speaks for itself and each year, it gets harder and harder to deny that he is the greatest player of all time. People may not like LeBron for the way he left Cleveland via “The Decision” and made a superteam in Miami. Or maybe they don’t like him because of the way he expresses himself on the court (Tatum’s foul the other week). And, honestly, some people don’t like him just because of how good he is.
Growing up, I wasn’t sure if anyone would pass Kareem’s 38,387 career points. But with the game evolving and the number of three-pointers going up and in, I guess it was inevitable for someone to chase down the record. It has to be said, Kareem scoring 38,387 points while making only one career three-pointer speaks volumes about how dominant Kareem was in his playing days.
Love or hate, LeBron will soon become the NBA’s leading scorer, and that is something that should be applauded, not critiqued.
So, is LeBron the best ever?
I plead the fifth.
