LeBron James turned 41 years old more than four months ago. Monday night, with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, he became the oldest player to record a triple-double. Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Lakers forward surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and became the all-time NBA wins leader at 1,229 games.
John Thompson, Jr., the late, great Georgetown coach said comparing players across eras was foolish because “The moment you pick one is the moment you diminish the entire legacy of the other.”
LeBron will be the G.O.A.T. when he retires, if he is not already.
Still, with eternal apologies to Coach Thompson, it’s becoming clear that LeBron will soon have no peer, not even Michael Jordan.
There, I said it. LeBron will be the G.O.A.T. when he retires, if he is not already.
No player in any major-revenue team sport has been this good for this long.
Before Kobe Bryant, Steph Curry and others entered the pantheon of the best non-centers to ever play the game, Jordan, Magic and Bird were hoop’s holy trinity.
Magic and Bird each played 13 seasons, retiring at 36 and 35, respectively. Michael Jordan played 15 seasons. Because he went straight from high school to the pros, this is LeBron’s 23rd season. He has been non-committal about retirement, but even if he hangs it up after this season he will have played a full decade more than Magic and Bird and eight years more than Jordan.
During a break in a game 2023, Jabari Smith, Jr., of the Houston Rockets told James, “Hey, you played against my dad your first NBA game ever.” When LeBron said, “Really?” Smith responded, “You feel old don’t you?”
He must not be feeling that old. Last month, James viciously dunked on Smith during a fast break.
Besides his longevity, LeBron will be remembered as a player who led three separate franchises – Miami, Cleveland and the Lakers – to a championship. But no one saw coming the intangible that’s currently setting him apart: his willingness to hand the baton to a better player on his own team. He has accepted that Luka Doncic is indeed the present and future of the Lakers.
Many of team’s three best players – LeBron, Doncic and Austin Reaves – have been injured at different times this season. They’ve only appeared together in 24 of the 76 games the Lakers have played this season. And yet, the Lakers have already won 50 games. Why? Because the player who should be viewed as the greatest ever to play when he retires has suddenly realized that being the second-best player on the roster at this moment in time makes the Lakers that much better. There are nights when Reaves is playing so well that LeBron is actually the third-best Laker on the floor.
No player I remember covering has received more ugly vitriol from fans who don’t like him. So I’m sure there will be a chorus of folks out there who’ll claim that LeBron doesn’t want the pressure all on him anymore and that he’s more than glad to see someone else get the grief for losing and when things go bad.
No player I remember covering has received more ugly vitriol from fans who don’t like him.
Maybe. But it’s more likely that LeBron has morphed into a high-end role player because he doesn’t want to upset the apple cart that carries the wins, that he realizes that if he indeed has a chance for one more run at a title it’s because Doncic is now an MVP candidate — and he’s fine with that.
I sat courtside or a few levels above the floor and watched Jordan and James in both of their primes for my job, and I can say this with conviction: Michael Jordan would never allow a player better than him to become the focal point of his team. Yes, that stubbornness and Alpha Male-to-the-nth power made him as great as he was. That’s not debatable.. But LeBron’s ability to live out the legendary UCLA coach John Wooden’s mantra – “Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, that’s teamwork” – at this age is truly something extraordinary to see in this, the twilight of his career. It’s a rebuke to those who’ve accused him making everything All-LeBron, All the time.
In the end, he was neither selfish nor so hard-headed that he couldn’t understand what it would take to keep the machine purring at the ripe old age of 41: hand over the keys. Pass the baton just as he’s always been willing to pass the ball. It’s a gift to the game no one could see from a player who’s given us so many.
Mike Wise is a sports journalist whose past employers include ESPN’s The Undefeated, The Washington Post and The New York Times. He is writing a biography of Olympic gold medalist Billy Mills.