The NBA GOAT debate is a never-ending one among basketball fans. But Lakers forward LeBron James has gone on record that he can stake a claim as the greatest to ever do it. Specifically after he led the Cavs from a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals to beat the 73-9 Warriors.
“At that moment, I was like I’m the greatest basketball player people have ever seen in all facets,” James said to TNT via The Athletic.
LeBron James believes the GOAT conversation changed when the Cavs came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.
“At that moment, I was like I’m the greatest basketball player people have ever seen in all facets.” pic.twitter.com/23QckmrHv7
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) February 21, 2022
“Like I can play them one through five, I can guard one through five, just like literally something that has never been done in the history of the sport. … I just felt like ain’t nobody better than me at this,” LeBron continued. “I felt like JAY-Z when he made ‘The Blueprint.’”
James’ comments reiterated what he said to Maverick Carter and crew in a 2018 episode of “More Than an Athlete.” “That moment right there made me the greatest player of all-time, that’s what I felt,” he said.
What @kingjames considers being the GOAT ?
New episode of More Than An Athlete out on @espn+. pic.twitter.com/7XSQ2GpOVo— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) December 30, 2018
“I was super, super ecstatic to win one for Cleveland because of the 52-year drought. The first wave of emotion was everyone saw me crying. That was all for 52 years of everything in sports going on in Cleveland. And then after I stopped, I was like, ‘That one right there made you the greatest player of all-time.’”
LeBron James capped off All-Star Weekend in Cleveland with a game-winning fader to lift his team to victory, 163-160. An 18-time All-Star, four-time champion and four-time MVP, LeBron is certainly among the best to ever touch the NBA hardwood. Where exactly he falls in the GOAT debate is for you to decide.
