Things may have gone downhill for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in recent years but he has still made his mark on the most storied franchise in the NBA.
So much so, that Matt Barnes thinks James will get a statue outside the arena, but he wants Kobe Bryant to get one first.
“They gotta worry about getting that Kobe statue up first,” Barnes said. “But I mean obviously, LeBron is an all-time great, so I’m sure they’ll find a way to honor him with a statue. I don’t really know the politics of getting a statue at Staples Center, but one championship, scoring title, you’ll have to see, you never know.”
While there is no doubt Kobe deserves a statue, it is up for debate whether LeBron should also get one. The Lakers had been terrible for years before he arrived and he led them to their first title since 2010 in 2020. His numbers as a Laker are quite impressive as well, having averaged 27.5 PPG, 8.1 RPG, 8.0 APG, 1.2 SPG, and 0.7 BPG in his 5 seasons. Shaquille O’Neal, who has a statue outside the arena, believes LeBron deserves one too, as he did win them a title.
His detractors, however, will point to the fact that his tenure with the team outside of that 2019-20 season, has been a bit of a disaster. The fact is, though, that a title does mean a lot and James surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time leading scorer while playing for the Lakers, which helps his case too.
Jeanie Buss Spoke On Kobe Bryant Getting A Statue
Shaq, Kareem, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, and Elgin Baylor are the only former NBA players with a statue outside the arena as of now. Kobe will certainly get one too, although it isn’t clear when that will happen.
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss said last year that they are discussing the matter internally but that it has to be done the right way and at the right time. When that would be, no one knows, but Bryant, who won 5 titles and finished as the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with 33,643 points, will be immortalized with a statue someday.
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