LeBron James caused a bit of a stir with his latest Nike ad, and the commercial was brought up on the latest episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast. Host Bill Simmons claimed he didn’t understand James’ MO and added that if he commented on it, then he’d be accused of being critical. That prompted podcast guest Charles Barkley to talk about what he hates about James and his camp.
“That’s the only thing I hate about LeBron,” Barkley said. “First of all, he’s a great player. He’s an amazing person. Really nice guy. But for him and his guys, if you don’t say he’s the greatest ever, it’s like you commit treason.”
Simmons stated you are either for them or against them. He wishes he could get away with saying that James is one of the best players of all time.
“No, you cannot,” Barkley stated. “You cannot. If you do not say he’s the greatest of all time, you’re committing treason. You can’t even mention Michael [Jordan], Kobe [Bryant], Bill Russell. Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar]. I mean, there’s a faction of Kareem people. I actually feel like Kareem is the one guy who get left out.”
One might think that Barkley is exaggerating too much here, but that’s not the case. Stephen A. Smith revealed Klutch Sports Group CEO Rich Paul told him it’s an insult to rank his client James as the second greatest player of all time. That is a bit too much.
James has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, a scoring title, and an assists title in his career. The 21-time All-Star is unquestionably one of the all-time greats. It would be disrespectful not to have James in that conversation for the greatest player of all time, with all that he has achieved, but it’s not an insult to put him at second.
“If you don’t say he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread, they hate you,” Barkley said. “And it’s really sad. And it pisses me off when it happens, too. Like, ‘Yo, man, it’s just people’s opinion.'”
Everyone is indeed entitled to their opinion. As for where Barkley ranks James, he has him at seventh. You can understand why that might have upset the Los Angeles Lakers superstar and his camp, as that seems a bit too low. Even Simmons, who has often been called one of the biggest haters, has James in his top six.
Barkley had Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, and Kobe Bryant in his top six. They all had incredible careers, but you can make a good case for James to rank above quite a few of them.
Barkley also raised eyebrows when he ranked Jimmy Butler over James on his all-time list of Miami Heat players. The Hall of Famer certainly isn’t his biggest fan.
That said, it’s not like Barkley has never complimented James. He once stated that James has the greatest story in sports history. Barkley praised him for shining on the court immediately after he entered the NBA out of high school and for being a model citizen. So, it’s not all negative.
