Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers may be best known for his creative projects, but it would be hard to tell the full story of the 62-year-old without mentioning the Los Angeles Lakers.
Flea is a Lakers superfan, and he’s had the luxury of watching the franchise evolve across multiple eras. Some folks around his age show a preference to previous generations when it comes to the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) debate, but Flea acknowledges that current Lakers superstar LeBron James could be the G.O.A.T.
He briefly touched on the topic during a wide-ranging conversation about basketball with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson for Lakers Daily.
“Grant Hill was great,” he said. “LeBron could be the greatest player of all time. It’s just different though. It’s that fast break with Magic [Johnson] — he passed BEHIND his head! And it wasn’t just to be fancy, he did it because he KNEW it was going to work and no one knew it was coming, you know?”
The case for James as the G.O.A.T. largely revolves around his resume, longevity and well-rounded playing style. The player most often mentioned as James’ competition for the honor is Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan, who dominated the NBA in the 1990s.
James, a four-time MVP and four-time champion, just completed his 22nd NBA season and is one season away from becoming the first player in history to play 23 years in the league.
Despite being on the other side of 40 years old, the all-time leading scorer remains a top talent in the NBA, and he just finished a season in which he averaged 24.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per contest.
Flea has been able to enjoy one Lakers championship delivered by James and company. It came in the 2020 NBA bubble, when James and then-teammate Anthony Davis led the way for L.A. as the franchise earned its 17th championship in history.
Flea, of course, isn’t saying that James is definitely the greatest player ever, and he may very well have a different choice personally for who the honor should go to. But at minimum, it’s cool for someone his age to show respect to a player like James, and he’s certainly hoping that the future Hall of Famer will be able to bring another title to L.A. before he retires.
