Ever since he made it to the NBA in 2003 people have engaged in a never-ending debate about whether LeBron James is the greatest player of all time or not.
Needless to say, LeBron fans believe that anything less than GOAT status is disrespect towards The King and won’t hesitate to call you out as a hater, even though no true basketball fan could argue that James isn’t a top-5 player in basketball history at worst.
That’s what’s going on between Stephen A. Smith and Kendrick Perkins on ESPN’s First Take, as the latter believes Smith is hating on LeBron because he has him as the second-best player of all time.
“God knows how many players have come through the NBA and I have said that LeBron James is on the Mount Rushmore of basketball. Number 2 all-time in the history of basketball. And Kendrick Perkins says: ‘That’s hating, that’s hating’. Let me ask you this question, Kendrick Perkins: If that’s hating, what the hell is love? What is true love, Kendrick Perkins? Do you know what it is? (…) The guy is number two all-time. And that’s with 6 NBA Finals losses in his résumé and I still have nim NUMBER TWO in the history of basketball. And people like you tell me: ‘Oh my God, why are you hating on LeBron James’. How is that hate?” Stephen A. Smith said.
Stephen A. definitely has a strong point here. I mean, is it really that bad, that insulting, that disrespectful being second to Michael Jordan? Most people would think of that as an honor.
Obviously, everybody’s entitled to their own opinion and it feels like there’s no right or wrong answer to this debate, but even if it was… how is that hating?
.@stephenasmith considers LeBron James to be the second-best player in the history of basketball, and people still say he's hating!
"If that's hating, what the hell is love?!" pic.twitter.com/euU7UnJpSy
— First Take (@FirstTake) October 12, 2020
