LeBron James is set to dethrone Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time leading scorer during the 2023 season, igniting debate over who is truly the greatest player of all time. Rather than focusing on greatness, I find it more productive to center discussions on who is the best basketball player.
Greatness is an objective metric and objectivity has no place in sports. Greatness has to do with being the most successful in completing a given goal. The only objective way of measuring greatness would be by number of championships won, since the goal of every athlete is to end the season with a trophy. In this case, Bill Russell is the greatest basketball player. Dominant in his era, if we used this method, nobody would argue that Russell is a better basketball player than LeBron, Michael Jordan and other legends. Since comparing greatness is objective, it becomes impossible to compare players on different teams, in different eras and with different coaches.
Instead of devoting so much time to debating greatness, pundits and fans should focus on who is the best without just taking account of their statistics. Being the best is a more varied metric than greatness. Winning championships is great, but so is playing the best possible basketball one can play. Basketball is an art form — using objective measures strips its beauty. To watch Vince Carter soar to the rim or Allen Iverson dance with the ball and have your first thought be that neither of them won a championship should earn you a ban from ever watching basketball.
In general, an argument can be made that fighting over who is the best is pointless. But, in reality, we know that telling fans to cease argument is futile. Opinions are intrinsic to fandom — sports fans rely on their opinions as a connector between themselves and the game that they only get to watch. There is no harm in debate as long as it is civil and acknowledges the relative meaninglessness of sports culture.
There is no right answer to who the best player ever is, and your answer is generally more indicative of you than anything else. Jordan fans like his pure scorer attitude while Kobe fans love his unmatched competitiveness and Tim Duncan fans respect his fundamentally flawless play style. What separates LeBron is that any of the above descriptions can fit him — he has shown he can excel in every single aspect of the game.
The reason I believe LeBron is the best to ever pick up a basketball is his ability to do whatever his team needs. He is the best non-guard facilitator ever, coupled with his scoring dominance which will soon earn him the all-time scoring crown. It is not common for greats like Jordan, Magic Johnson or Kobe to struggle, but if they do, their team is not going to win. LeBrons’ mastery of all aspects of the game allows him to adapt if he is struggling in one area. This makes it nearly impossible for James to have a bad game. LeBron is also the most statistically consistent basketball player ever. His career averages of around 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists are remarkable, given he is now in his 20th season. While he is three points-per-game below Jordan, he also takes an average of three shots fewer per-game. On top of this, he is the only player to be on the all-time top 10 leaderboards for both points and assists.
I will not compare LeBrons’ successes in winning championships with Jordan, Kobe and other greats. Championships are too dependent on team build and coaching. Without the right fit or system, otherwise excellent players can be rendered inefficient and mediocre. Their individual performances in clutch games, however, are very relevant. LeBron has proved he elevates his game in the biggest moments. In 2007, 23-year-old LeBron scored the last 25 points in a row to lead the Cavaliers to win a crucial game five against the Pistons. LeBron has also shown he is as clutch of a shot-taker as they come, shooting a higher percentage on game-tying or winning shots with under 10 seconds left in playoff games than Jordan or Kobe. He also accomplishes this on a higher volume of shots. I would be remiss to not add LeBron’s clutch 2016 block on Andre Iguodala, the best defensive play ever. Jordan and Bryant are remarkable clutch players as well, but this stat dispels the notion that LeBron is not in their class.
In the same way people usually prefer music they listened to in high school, fans have the tendency to hold a bias toward the players they watched during their youth or young adulthood. Not wanting to acknowledge the growth of the basketball industry correlates with older fans’ hesitance to accept their aging. In the future, many people who grew up during LeBron’s reign will no doubt resist crowning someone else as the best player ever. There are already talents like Luka Doncic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Victor Wembanyama, who display their overwhelming skills and still potentially have 15 or 20 years of playing left. One of them, or some other up-and-coming player, will eventually dethrone LeBron. And that’s okay. Basketball evolves, and if we are too stubborn to follow suit, then it will leave us behind.
Nathan Sommer is a sophomore majoring in history.