LeBron James is Officially the Greatest of All Time

LeBron James has already been the greatest of all time, or the GOAT (Greatest of all time), but if you take a look at the longevity and complexity of his career, his title is solidified. Four rings, four MVPs, four Finals MVPs, 16 All-NBA team selections, 16-time All-Star starter, six All-defense, and only one Scoring title. We all know that he could easily score the most in the league if he wanted to, but that is not his game. When it comes to getting recognized, LeBron will always be in the discussion.

Regardless, James has 34,241 points which put him third on the list for all-time scoring. He definitely will be at the top of the list by the time he retires and he’s not even considered a scorer. That is an amazing feat on its own. James has said he can average 50 points every game if he wanted to —if he took as many shots as James Harden and others.

He has 9,346 assists and will most likely break 10,000. Everyone has always marveled over James’ great passing abilities and this year he was the leader in assists. The Lakers surrounded him with talent that can actually make shots after he passes them the ball and then, boom. Eleven assists a game. Anthony Davis being the main recipient of those passes helps in a lot of ways as well.

James has 9,405 rebounds in which he’ll also pass 10,000 by the time he retires. He will be the only player to have 30,000 points, 10,000 assists and 10,000 rebounds. This is a feat no one can achieve in a short time. He’ll most likely be the only player to do so in NBA history. No one has the athleticism, scoring skills and passing abilities that he possesses. It is difficult to even imagine someone else coming close.

James is in at least the top five of most of the playoff categories. No one shines brighter than James does when he is in the playoffs. As any fan of his knows, this is the only year he didn’t go into the “Zero-Dark-30” mode. This mode consists of him staying off social media and only focusing on basketball. 

This might be the best team James has ever played with and a huge reason for that is Anthony Davis. Davis is a generational player that’s most likely going to be a Hall of Famer himself. James has never played with such a versatile Power Forward. Davis can do anything on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The closest to Davis would be Chris Bosh. Bosh isn’t Anthony Davis though, and it’s easy to see that if you watched this postseason.

Besides Davis, James received a lot of help from Rajon Rondo, Dwight Howard, and Kentavious Caldwell Pope. Rondo and Howard are debatable Hall of Famers as well. The knowledge and hard-nosed defense they brought to the Lakers was a huge contributing factor to them winning the championship.

James, Davis, and this Lakers team will easily be able to win more championships. If that happens, James will be considered the GOAT without a doubt. No one will be able to say anything anymore because he will be the oldest player performing at such high levels.

James is the most durable and valuable player ever. There is no one else in NBA history that can lead their team in every stat and run the offense and defense as he can. He has essentially averaged a triple-double his whole career and can carry the worst of the worst to the finals. He can give you 28-9-9 on any given night and some will even consider that a “bad” game.

Michael Jordan could never make it with any of the early cavalier teams James played on. He could not make it out of the first round without Scotty Pippen. Jordan was the best in most of his championship runs and has not faced any teams as good as James has. Jordan is great, but he’d never be the complete all-around player LeBron is.

Jordan faced teams that had one, at the most two, Hall of Famers. Jordan has played against nine All-NBA players during his six finals and LeBron has played against 17 in his nine finals. That alone shows you the difference in the difficulty of teams they’ve played against.

Jordan hasn’t played against any team that’s even close to the Spurs and Warriors in greatness. The Warriors broke Jordan and the Bull’s record for crying out loud. The Warriors went 73-9 in the regular season compared to the Bulls 72-10.

Even then, LeBron beat them and did something no one has ever done before: come back and win in the Finals after being down 3-1. The block he had on Iguodala is arguably the best defensive clutch play in Finals’ history.

The final tipping point is that Jordan can’t guard every position, create plays for others, and get his own points as Bron does nightly. People take his game for granted and when he retires the whole world will feel it. When he wins another ring or three, people will see how easy he makes it look. Bron has lived up to all the pressure they’ve put on him and he truly is the “Chosen One”.