LeBron forfeited the GOAT title
There’s an ongoing debate about whether Michael Jordan or LeBron James is the NBA GOAT. I picked Michael years ago.
There’s no denying LeBron’s talents. And they certainly make him worthy of contention. However, he forfeited all claims to this title in 2010 when he abandoned Cleveland and took his talents to Miami to chase his first championship ring.
Other GOAT contenders include Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius “Dr. J” Erving, and Kobe Bryant. Back then, I argued that they were more worthy than LeBron, primarily because they did not become hired guns to win their first NBA championship. Years later, I felt vindicated when no less an authority than Dr. J echoed my argument.
In any event, I commented further on this theme in commentaries like:
- “LeBron James Leads Miami Heat to NBA Championship” on June 22, 2012,
- “NBA Finals: LeBron Delivers on His Promise to Cleveland, Finally” on June 20, 2016, and
- “Players Like LeBron and KD Can Never Be Among the Greatest” on September 4, 2018.
From GOAT to Chicken
LeBron’s narcissism misled him to make a big show of announcing his move to Miami. That glaring statement about his character permanently tainted my respect for him.
But his political activism and charitable works are considerably redeeming. I mean, it speaks volumes that LeBron built a school for at-risk children, whereas Michael built a golf club so he and his rich friends could play far from the maddening crowd.
However, nobody ever questioned Michael’s leadership when it came to basketball. The same cannot be said about LeBron.
Stephen A. Smith and Michael Wilbon are America’s most influential sports commentators. Yet, just this week, both criticized LeBron for deflecting responsibility after the Denver Nuggets eliminated his Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of this year’s NBA playoffs.
But nothing animated their criticism quite like LeBron’s Chicken-Little complaints, which caused the Lakers to fire head coach Marvin Ham. Here, for example, is a taste of what Wilbon said:
He’s a great guy and he’s a pretty damn good coach. He took a team that had done nothing the year before, and missed the playoffs, and then last year they got to the conference finals with him and everybody had praise for him — including LeBron and Anthony Davis. …
And now all of a sudden the two of them blame him. … Let me just say this: If you [LeBron] want to be the GOAT and you want to tell everybody you’re the greatest player of all time, then take accountability like one. Do that!
(New York Post, May 4, 2024)
The truth is that LeBron has never accepted responsibility. That’s why he’s the only superstar in NBA history who has schemed to fire eight of nine coaches. The only coach LeBron couldn’t oust was Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat, thanks to GM and NBA legend Pat Riley’s intervention.
Instead of doing as others had done, Riley dismissed LeBron’s scheming in this case as that of a spoiled child throwing a temper tantrum, and rightly so.
In line with this, a referee ejected Coach Ime Udoka of the Houston Rockets for yelling at LeBron during a game:
Stop crying like bitches, man. Stop bitching!
I suspect that’s how many NBA coaches and players feel about LeBron, including Ham, the latest coach he bitched about and got fired.
Scheming to make his son his NBA heir
The NBA is all atwitter about Lebron’s son, Bronny, entering this year’s draft. After all, this is the same son who suffered a sudden cardiac arrest that effectively ended his career in the NCAA. So, people are wondering if he has recovered well enough to play in the NBA.
But tongues are also wagging about LeBron making the biggest nepo play in sports history. To be fair, though, he has telegraphed his intent for years to play with his son in the NBA. He clearly wants to emulate Ken Griffey Sr and his son Ken Jr. They made history by becoming the first father-son duo to play together on the same team.
Pardon the mixed metaphor, but here’s a curveball: I wholeheartedly support LeBron using his clout to make his father-son duo a reality.
Regardless of his faults, LeBron has been the NBA’s top draw for over a decade. Nobody would have any issue if an NBA owner drafted his son to play on his team. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss would probably agree that LeBron is equally entitled.
But here’s another curveball: LeBron should urge Bronny to forget the NBA. He should announce he’s retiring instead of trying to emulate the Griffeys.
That would free Bronny of the pressure to be LeBron’s heir apparent and fulfill LeBron’s wish for them to play together in the NBA. Because LeBron would never forgive himself if Bronny kept playing, and that ended up killing him.