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I'm not taking nobody over me. There's no question. That's how LeBron James answered a question about the greatest of all time debate in a big profile he did with Time magazine. He was the cover boy for their 100 most influential people in sports issue. And honestly, what the hell did you want LeBron James to say? Okay, there's nothing wrong with what he said and he's not lying about his thoughts. He also later added, "If there's a general manager and he's eyeballing all of us on the baseline." And by all of us he's talking, you know, all of the greats in basketball history.
"If there's general manager and he's eyeballing all of us on a baseline with the number one pick, it's going to be hard not to take me, champ." Again, you might not like it, you might not agree with it, but LeBron's not lying and he's being honest. And I mean, look at we could sit here for 2 hours and litigate LeBron James' entire unprecedented 23-year and counting career, but there are just a few things we can point out. One, I mean, the guy's the all-time leading scorer and fourth in all-time assists. And that's not just because he's played an unprecedented 23 seasons, okay? This is No one else is even in the top 11 in both categories. LeBron is in the top four of both. Harden's top 12 of both, by the way. Um
it's just one of those things where like even something as just simple as the offensive end, you know, sometimes we overthink it and say things like whether it's Nikola Jokic or Luka Dončić or Kevin Durant, "Oh, this guy's the best pure offensive player ever." Whatever, "The best pure scorer." But even that, it's like the all-time leading scorer is also the fourth all-time assist man in terms of creating points for others. A guy that was built like a linebacker, runs like a sprinter, could pass like an all-time point guard, with a basketball computer for a brain that almost always makes the right play with the ball in his hand, can bulldoze his way to the rim. And then, oh by the way, in his prime he was a 40%
three-point shooter on pretty good volume. Like, maybe that guy is actually the best offensive player ever. And also the guy who I'm saying might be the best offensive player ever and has the stats to back it up um in that prime I mentioned when he was also a 40% three-point shooter, probably deserved to be winning Defensive Player of the Year in those Miami years. Like, you know, in the end for me, I understand and I completely um get preaching the gospel of Jordan, Michael Jordan, just like the rest of you who grew up in the '90s or earlier. I get that. And I've always said for me at this point, LeBron and Jordan is 1A 1B. Flip a coin. On some days, I think Jordan's the best player who's ever lived. On other days, I think it's
LeBron. I think those guys are neck and above the rest of the field. No disrespect to some of those other all-time legends, but it's just between Jordan and LeBron, you can have your pick and you're not wrong either way. So, expecting LeBron, you know, one of those two guys to have any other answer than I'm picking myself is a little disingenuous. And look, I'm sure you can say, "Well, look, Michael Jordan's my goat and he's taken somewhat of a high road, the more humble approach when he's been asked point-blank who the goat is because he's often said things like, 'You know, well, you can't compare eras and it's hard and, you know, different eras are different.' And he's not wrong about that. But I like what
LeBron said to time from this context. And we can put up this second quote later because what I didn't show you in the first quote was the context of what LeBron said. And that is, "But I think Mike will say the same thing. Rest his soul, Kobe will say the same thing. Magic will say the same thing. Bird will say the same thing. Shaq could say the same thing. The late great Wilt, Kareem. I don't think none of us are going to take somebody else." And LeBron is exactly right. All those guys, and especially Jordan, are not taking anyone over themselves if they had to make the choice. Okay, Michael Jordan can take the humble road when he's just asked, "Are you the goat?" And maybe you just say, "Well, LeBron should
have done that." But if you ask Michael Jordan, "Who are you taking in a game to save your life? And you can have yourself in your prime, you know, the average uh Jordan year, or you can have the prime or the average year of any other player who's ever played, who do you think Michael Jordan's taking?" He's taking Michael Jordan. Did you watch The Last Dance? Okay? He's taking Michael Jordan. And good on him. Just like good on LeBron. Like what LeBron said is exactly the kind of ruthless attitude and swagger people worship Jordan for. People worship Kobe for. You can't praise that bravado from your favorite players and then talk about how the game's gone soft and all this. But in the same breath, say LeBron should be more humble or he
should take the high road when it comes to the goat debate. No. You either believe in the whole thing about like the ruthless swagger and the bravado and the stuff that you love about MJ and Kobe, or you don't. And if you really believe that stuff when you say that you love it from those guys, then you have to be fair to LeBron and say, "Yeah, he should be able to talk his talk, too." And tell you what he thinks. And what he thinks is that he's the greatest player ever, and he would choose himself over anyone else. And again, how can you blame him for feeling that way? Now, I did want to touch on one last thing because there's a difference between greatest player of all time and most influential.
the question of most influential, I think still has to be Jordan. And LeBron actually nailed this on the head uh in a third quote I want to show you guys from this Time magazine profile. When it comes to who the most influential player is, this is a great quote from LeBron. "You ask somebody that grew up in the Jordan era, they're going to say Jordan. You ask somebody who grew up in the LeBron era, they're still going to say Jordan." He's exactly right. When it comes to influence, as much as LeBron has done, obviously the amount of positive things LeBron has done off the court, I mean, the I Promise School, look that up just for starters. And the kids he's literally
put through school and paid through for school supplies and then helped them with scholarships and post-secondary education, like LeBron has done so much. But, if we're talking straight up um cultural influence, mainstream influence, no one, you know, few athletes ever other than maybe Muhammad Ali and definitely no basketball player ever has been as influential as Michael Jordan. Like, there was just a certain aura that came with him and that still comes with him. And honestly, even like with Kobe, there was that aura, too. And I don't know if it's maybe just that the more modern the athlete and the more accessible and always in your face they are because of the way social media has changed everything about our culture
and the way we consume sports and media and all that, maybe some of that aura and mythology just naturally disappears because we get so much of these guys always in our face all the time nowadays. But, whatever it is, there was some unmistakable and kind of indescribable aura about MJ that I just don't think LeBron or any other player, frankly, um going forward will ever be able to touch. So, I think LeBron was right about that and that everyone's going to say it's Jordan because it is Jordan when we talk about influential. But, if we're just talking greatest of all time, who was the best player of all time? Like I said, it's 1A 1B between Jordan and LeBron. LeBron has every right to believe that it's him. And you
best believe that Jordan feels the exact same way. So, I know there are a lot of people out there that love to clown on LeBron. Um and I'm sure they will about these comments, but you can't because in his mind he's right and we can't argue with that. Anyway, those are my thoughts on it. Drop your thoughts on LeBron's comments, who you think is the goat, the most influential in the comments. This has been from the logo. My name is Joseph Casciaro. Don't forget to like and subscribe. Don't forget to follow all my content and all of our content at The Score by downloading the Score app and we'll catch you next time.
