- Stephen A. Smith believes LeBron James is the second-best player of all time
- LeBron’s agent and good friend Rich Paul felt that was an insult
- Smith was furious and felt Paul had lost his mind
LeBron James is one of the greatest players in NBA history, and some consider him to be the greatest. Stephen A. Smith isn’t one of them and it appears that wasn’t something that sat well with LeBron’s agent Rich Paul. During an appearance on Podcast P, Smith spoke about a conversation between himself and Paul on the topic.
“I got him as the second-best player in the history of basketball,” Smith said. “I got him, ahead of Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar). I got him behind no one but (Michael) Jordan and I said to Mr. Chirper himself, Rich Paul – my boy – and I said, you act like that’s an insult. This dude [said] ‘It is an insult.’ I said ‘Get the f*** out of my face.’
“Exactly what I said to him,” Smith continued. “I don’t want to talk to you no more. When you gonna treat me like I’m disrespecting a man by calling him, in the history of the game that started in 1947, you gonna tell me that I’m disrespecting a man by having him No. 2 all-time, you’ve lost your damn mind. I’m not talking to you.”
(starts at 1:05:51 mark):
It would be insulting if Smith had said LeBron isn’t a top 10 player of all time. The 38-year-old has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, and is the all-time leader in points, so he deserves to be in the conversation for greatest ever. But, to say that someone who believes Michael Jordan is better than James is insulting LeBron is a bit much. It’s not a surprise that Smith got upset at Paul after that.
We did a career comparison of Jordan and LeBron, with the former edging out the latter by a 5-3 margin. The Chicago Bulls legend has won more titles, Finals MVPs, and MVPs while also making more All-Defensive Teams, and he has a higher career player efficiency rating as well.
Rich Paul Believes LeBron James Faced More Obstacles Than Michael Jordan
Paul once said that LeBron faced more obstacles than Jordan, that the road for James was just as hard, if not harder, than it was for the Bulls legend. Paul felt that everyone wanted LeBron to be like Jordan from the get-go, but he wasn’t like his idol. The CEO of Klutch Sports also thinks there were many more who were rooting for LeBron to fail than to see him succeed in the beginning.
Paul also stated that if the GOAT debate is about rings, then it should be Bill Russell for his 11 championships. He brought up LeBron going to NBA Finals for half his career as a very difficult thing to do and added he isn’t going to spend his time arguing with talking heads about who they think is the GOAT.
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