Gilbert Arenas believes LeBron James is virtually guaranteed to get a statue with the Los Angeles Lakers. He claimed that there was no way the franchise would miss out on the chance to build a statue for the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, especially when he broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record while playing for the Lakers.
“LeBron James will have a statue at Staples because you’re not going to have the number one scorer in NBA history not there… Cleveland is going to give him one no matter what. He can possibly (have) three. 100% sure he will have two because there is no way Los Angeles doesn’t have him with the name. They’re only putting in prestige.”
This is definitely different from what Arenas was saying just a few months ago. While speaking to Shannon Sharpe, Arenas claimed that LeBron James doesn’t deserve a statue with the Lakers, claiming that he hasn’t gotten the accolades to merit a statue being built outside the Crypto.com Arena.
“If his career stopped right now, hell no. He doesn’t have enough accolades in the Laker uniform. The closest statue we have like that is Shaq with eight years and three rings.”
“It’s going to be hard to put him (LeBron) with six years, 8000 points, one championship, six All-Stars. That’s not good enough for a statue in Los Angeles. They could start with the shoes, they could start with the Bron’s out there.”
It is unclear what made Arenas change his mind, as LeBron James still has the same accolades under his belt with the Lakers that he had months ago when Arenas made his initial comments. Regardless of what changed, it is clear that Arenas thinks LeBron James will get multiple statues with franchises he played for during his career.
LeBron James Winding Up His Career
There is no doubt that LeBron James is close to the end of his career. He will turn 40 years old during the season and doesn’t have much time left in the NBA. For James, his next big goal will be to play alongside his son Bronny James, and perhaps try and win another NBA championship before his career is over.
The Lakers are actually optimistic about their season this year, as new head coach JJ Redick seems to be impressing both fans and members of the media alike. He has two strong weapons in the form of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who can be consistently great for the Lakers. Redick will need to get the best out of the rest of his players if they want to be competitive in the tough Western Conference.
If Redick can get his players to deliver at the highest level, then the Lakers could be one of the surprising dark horse teams in the West. From a talent standpoint, having two of the best players in the NBA on the same team is a big boost for Redick, so he must do his best to make sure the rest of his players hit their ceiling next season.
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