Klutch Sports Group CEO Rich Paul is not only Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James‘ agent, but also one of his closest friends. Paul has been one of James’ most vocal supporters for years now, and he was at it again on the latest episode of the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast.
Co-host Wallace Peeples, aka Wallo267, had rang up Paul during the show to ask him who the greatest player of all time is.
“LeBron James, it’s easy,” Paul said.
Wallace asked Paul whether there is bias involved here because he’s James’ agent. He claimed he isn’t biased and started speaking about how Michael Jordan didn’t have to endure. Before he could continue, an enraged Gillie Da Kid, the other co-host, cut him off. Chaos ensued, after which Paul got back to explaining why he believes James is greater than Jordan.
“Let’s talk facts,” Paul said. “What does Michael Jordan do better than LeBron outside of scoring the basketball? Period… If the game was on the line, the last seconds to go, I actually want Michael to take the shot… Everything else, give me LeBron.”
Paul added that while he wants Jordan to take the last shot with the game on the line, he would want James to have the ball in the critical moments. He believes the 22-time All-Star would make the best decision in that situation.
James has always looked to make the right play in the clutch. If multiple defenders are being thrown at him, he’s going to pass the ball to an open teammate. That has led to talk about how he doesn’t have the killer instinct Jordan and fellow Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant had.
James’ not being a killer was brought up here, too, and Paul had quite an explanation for why he isn’t selfish the way Jordan and Bryant were on the court.
“When you look at Michael, Michael grew up with a mom and a dad in his household,” Paul said. “When you look at Kobe, Kobe grew up with a mom and dad in his household. When you look at LeBron, LeBron’s mom was 16 when she had him as a child. Now, he spent a lot of time by himself… Taking the last shot over three people is a selfish gene.
“That don’t make you having killer instinct,” Paul continued. “That’s a selfish behavior. That’s a gene… It ain’t got nothing to do with killer, because the killers is in the joint and some of them are walking out here. This ain’t no killer s*** on a basketball court. I’ve been around them all. What I’m trying to explain to you is psychologically, when you spend the time that you spent by yourself, quite naturally, you want to do what?
“You want to befriend people, and you built a game off of making other guys look good,” Paul added. “LeBron sees the pass and you scoring just as much as he sees himself scoring, which is why he’s the only athlete to have other self-made millionaires in his circle and not look down upon it because he don’t have that selfish gene.”
James was raised by his mother, Gloria, and his father wasn’t a part of his life. We don’t even know for sure who his father is. Did that play a role in shaping James’ mindset on the court? Well, only he can say for sure.
Even with all this talk about lacking killer instinct and whatnot, the fact is that James has delivered in the big moments plenty of times over the course of his career. He has made the most game-tying or go-ahead shots in the final five seconds of playoff games since 1997.
James has also hit eight game-winning buzzer-beaters in his career, tied for second most in NBA history. Bryant has eight, too, while Jordan leads the way with nine.
It is a pity that this false narrative about James just won’t go away. We should appreciate greatness a bit more.
Getting back to Paul, he also wanted to make it clear he wasn’t criticizing Jordan in any way.
“I’m not knocking Michael Jordan,” Paul said. “But what I’m saying is LeBron grew up making guys better. So, quite naturally, he’s going to always make the proper basketball play. Michael grew up playing against his brother every day. I couldn’t beat my brother, my older brother Larry, and so when I finally beat him, that created, no matter what, I’m taking this shot.”
Paul mentioned here that Jordan was his favorite player growing up. James has just completely won him over now.
