For the last several years, perhaps the hottest debate in basketball has been whether LeBron James has equaled or perhaps surpassed LeBron James as the greatest player in NBA history.
As James started to rack up championship rings with the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers, more and more people, especially Millennials, felt that James was closing the cap or had closed the gap between him and the former Chicago Bulls superstar.
There often seems to be a recency bias when it comes to these debates, but James has a growing legion of supporters who feel that he is or at least will be considered the greatest in the history of the game.
Count Dallas Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd among those supporters.
Jason Kidd on if MJ or LBJ is the greatest of all-time: “I think LeBron will go down as the greatest to do it. When you look at his numbers — what he’s done on and off the floor — no one’s done that. You got to put the whole package together. He’s the greatest of all-time.”
— Dwain Price (@DwainPrice) March 29, 2022
Kidd would know
Whether Kidd is right or wrong, he has gotten the opportunity to know James pretty well.
Prior to this season, he spent two years as one of the Lakers’ assistant coaches behind Frank Vogel. In Kidd’s first season in that capacity, the Lakers won the NBA championship while James led the league in assists while playing full-time point guard – at age 35 and on a fast-breaking team.
It was an impressive feat that James fans will no doubt point to as one reason why they feel his body of work is greater than Jordan’s.
As one of the NBA’s better point guards of all time, Kidd entered the league in 1994, which meant that he also got to play against Jordan, Kobe Bryant and a couple of the other true all-time greats. It has given him some good perspective on the greatest of all-time debate.
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