Former Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic player Terrence Ross seems to think that Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James is the clear-cut greatest basketball player of all time.
Terence Ross on why LeBron deserved Olympics MVP and why he’s the GOAT over MJ 🔥 pic.twitter.com/S11u02ewFl
— 🎭 (@MaskedInLA) September 10, 2024
“LeBron is literally to me now — he’s the G.O.A.T.,” Ross said when reflecting on James’ performance in the 2024 Paris Olympics. “I don’t know how you put [Michael] Jordan over him. If Jordan would have done what he was doin’ for 20 years, I’m like, ‘Yeah, LeBron has a long way to go.’ The truth of the matter is he played basketball twice, returned twice. Got a three-peat on his first return, and the second time he came back he was not the same player. LeBron has literally have been — he’s been on a peak his entire career. I mean, he just gets older, but he still is effective as he’s always been.”
Ross also said that he believes that the competition James has faced in his career is more impressive than what Jordan went up against.
Longtime sports broadcaster Mike Breen recently weighed in on the G.O.A.T. debate as well, though he took more of a philosophical approach and refused to crown James as the greatest player of all time.
“I love that phrase,” Breen said. “And when you start saying, ‘Okay, who’s better?’ … You wind up having to criticize the one that you don’t pick. And we’re criticizing one of the greatest to ever play the game? I never understood that.
“And the other thing is, every era is different. LeBron James is the greatest player of his era. Kobe Bryant, you could say in his era, was there. Michael Jordan, certainly. Go back to Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar]. Go back to Wilt [Chamberlain]. Go back to Bill Russell.
“The game is so different. It was played differently 20 years ago, 40 years ago. It was coached differently. It was officiated differently. To compare eras and say, ‘He’s better than that player,’ or, ‘That player is the best of all time,’ I can’t do it. I can’t definitively.
“If you want to tell me that you think Michael Jordan’s the greatest of all time, I’m gonna say, ‘Can’t disagree with you.’ If you tell me LeBron is, can’t disagree with you. If you say Wilt Chamberlain, I can’t disagree with any of them. They are all legendary, generational-type players that it’s, to me, it’s impossible to pick one over another.
“The way I always phrase it is, if somebody asks me, ‘Do you think LeBron James’ — because I’ve called so many of his games, and it’s been an honor to call his games — ‘Do you think he’s the greatest of all time?’ I say, ‘I can’t say that. What I can say is he takes a backseat to no one.’”
As Breen implied, it can be difficult to compare great players from different eras because the game is played differently than it was 20 or even 10 years ago.
But no player of his generation boasts a more impressive and loaded resume than James. He has already accomplished more than most NBA players can realistically hope to accomplish over the course of their pro careers, and James’ NBA tenure isn’t over yet.
A key aspect of why James is universally regarded as an all-time great basketball player is because of his longevity. As Ross implied, James has played at a high level ever since he stepped foot on an NBA court out of high school, and the numbers back up this sentiment.
James has played in the NBA for 21 seasons, and he earned an All-Star appearance in all but one of those seasons — his rookie season.
The 39-year-old also has as many All-NBA nods to his name as he does All-Star selections. There are only 15 available spots spanning the three All-NBA teams, meaning one has to be an elite player at their position in order to make the cut.
James’ collective success that he has enjoyed in the NBA may be equally impressive as his individual accolades. He has won an NBA title with three different teams — the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and Lakers — and James won his most recent championship with Los Angeles in the 2019-20 season.
The forward will try to win the fifth title of his NBA career in 2025, but the Lakers are fresh off a first-round exit in the 2024 NBA Playoffs. Los Angeles didn’t put up much of a fight against Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and the Denver Nuggets, seeing as it was eliminated in five games.
