During an interview with Willie D, 3x NBA champion Mario Elie gave his candid opinion of LeBron James and the GOAT debate. According to Elie, LeBron’s habit of teaming up with other superstars weakens his case for being the best compared to legends like Michael Jordan and Kobe, who worked with what they had.
“None of us backed down from him. We loved competing against him. That’s what you’re in the NBA for. All these guys want to join each other and play with each other. No, I want to beat you! LeBron, you say you’re the GOAT, why are you joining Bosh and D-Wade? We weren’t doing that in the ’90s,” Elie said. “It’s like Dream calling Jordan up saying, ‘You want to link up?’… I want to beat you! I don’t want to join you. These boys want it easy right now. LeBron wants Anthony Davis, and you’re talking about you’re the GOAT? Come on, man.”
Elie, a 3x champion, spent most of his career with the Rockets during the 90s. Ironically, as a teammate of Hakeem Olajuwon, Charles Barkley, and Clyde Drexler, he’s no stranger to superteams but he never went out of his way to try and join one. The same could be said for Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, and plenty of other legends who were able to win with a team they built from the ground up.
LeBron James was the start of something different. Normally, a superstar of his caliber would be content to join a team and call it his own. But after he failed to make a championship run in 2010, he left for the Heat following seven years with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Not only did he leave his old team behind, but he specifically made moves to bring star power with him. He spoke with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh who, together, made the choice to join James in Miami and create one of the most iconic “big threes” in NBA history.
James and this new superteam went on to win two championships in four straight trips to the Finals and they had a stretch where they won 27 games in a row. The period came to an end just four years later when LeBron left the Heat in free agency to return to the Cavaliers.
From Wade and Bosh to Kyrie Irving, Kevin Love, and Anthony Davis, LeBron James has recruited and played with a lot of elite talent over the years and it’s hard to say where he’d be today without them.
For some, his elite cast of teammates means that his path to the championship was easier than most. Compared to Michael Jordan, LeBron’s titles often get discredited for being bought or inauthentic.
Today, at 39, LeBron is still playing at an elite level and he has no regrets over his past. As a 4x champion and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, LeBron will always have a place in the GOAT discussion, and even if people don’t hold his titles with the same weight as Jordan’s he’s done enough to have a case regardless and what he does over the next two years can make it even stronger.
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