The debate surrounding LeBron James‘ place in basketball history has lasted for years, but NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas appears tired of hearing legends leave the Los Angeles Lakers star off their all-time lists.
Speaking on Run It Back TV, Thomas delivered one of the strongest defenses of LeBron yet, suggesting jealousy and envy are often behind those rankings.
“Jealousy. Envy…. On the real, y’all know I don’t mess around, right? I’m calling it out. Guys are jealous. They get envious. Y’all bring them on the show, then they want to talk about what they did or what somebody else did. And then they intentionally ignore the obvious.”
“When you intentionally ignore the obvious, then it has to come back to some jealousy, some envy, or just some straight up BS. This man has every basketball record in the books, and he ain’t in your top five? You full of s**t.”
Thomas’ comments come after several former players and analysts have notably excluded LeBron from their top five lists. Charles Barkley has previously ranked him seventh all-time. Kenny Smith has also left him outside his top five. More recently, Vlade Divac and Bruce Bowen have all made lists that omitted James.
The criticism has baffled many observers because LeBron’s resume continues to grow after 23 seasons in the NBA.
At this stage of his career, James owns more major records than any player in league history.
He is the NBA’s all-time leader in regular season points (43,440), regular season games played (1,622), regular season minutes played (60,676), field goals made (15,884), playoff points (8,289), playoff games played (292), playoff minutes played (12,062), playoff wins (184), playoff steals (493), playoff field goals made (2,971), playoff free throws made (1,867), playoff series victories (41), All NBA selections (21), All Star selections (22), Player of the Week awards (69), Player of the Month awards (41), and consecutive double digit scoring games (1,297).
He is also the only player in NBA history with over 40,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, and 10,000 assists. He remains the only player to score 40 points against all 30 NBA franchises and the only player to win Finals MVP with three different organizations.
Beyond the records, the awards are equally impressive.
LeBron is a four-time NBA champion, four-time Finals MVP, four-time regular season MVP, 22-time All-Star, 21-time All-NBA selection, three-time Olympic gold medalist, scoring champion, assist champion, and NBA Cup MVP.
Even in his 23rd season, he remained productive, averaging 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.6 blocks while shooting 51.5% from the field. That is why Thomas finds some rankings difficult to understand.
Reasonable arguments exist for Michael Jordan or Kareem Abdul Jabbar to rank ahead of LeBron. Some fans place him second. Others place him first. A case can even be made for a third, depending on personal criteria.
What has become increasingly difficult is arguing that five players in NBA history have accomplished more, produced more, or played better basketball over a career than LeBron James.
As Thomas sees it, leaving James outside the top five is no longer a basketball argument. It’s something else entirely.
