For years, fans have debated which NBA player deserves the ultimate tag of the Greatest of All Time (GOAT). While most sections of the crowd believe that the Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan is the undisputed GOAT, many have suggested that it’s LeBron James who is the GOAT.
While MJ had a huge lead in the initial years, LeBron slowly but surely started to catch up to Jordan with his amazing performances year after year. Now, LeBron is 37-years-old and is inevitably heading towards retirement soon.
Additionally, it seems like a lot of fans and sports pundits have given up on James having any chance of dethroning Michael. Why? Well, if you have followed the 2021-22 NBA season, you must be aware of how underwhelming LeBron’s team, the Los Angeles Lakers, played.
The Lakers are already eliminated from the race to win the 2022 NBA Championship as they failed to qualify for the playoffs. As a result, James has become the center of a backlash from NBA analysts.
Among them is popular NBA analyst Stephen A. Smith. Smith, who is considered one of the best at what he does and he recently spoke about the GOAT debate.
“This is the worst season of LeBron James’ career cause I’m not talking about his numbers, and I’m not talking about what he did as a player. I’m talking about what he’s a part of. The GOAT conversation is officially over. It was never there for me. It was always Michael Jordan first, LeBron second. But if ever there was any doubt, this cemented the fact that LeBron James cannot be considered the G.O.A.T. That conversation is over. And you know why it’s over? Because LeBron James was on the Lakers averaging 29, 30 points a game — it still happened.”
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As Smith mentioned in the video, LeBron has been great individually. But even after being in contention for the scoring title and putting up huge numbers in most games, the Lakers failed to make it to the playoffs.
One cannot completely expect James to shoulder the blame for the team’s abysmal season as they still had the likes of Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook on the roster.
But at the end of the day, the fact that a LeBron James-led failed to make it to the playoffs is a shock to most. As a result, it has tainted James’ case for being considered the GOAT. There are many who will still consider him to be the GOAT, but Stephen A. is not among them.
