Does Lebron James really deserve to be considered in the G.O.A.T Debate ?

Many people place Lebron James in the GOAT debate, but with sound reasoning, does the King really belong in such conversation?

In the wake of a national pandemic that is currently running ramped across our world, It was on April 19th of 2020, in which the world of basketball and all those who inhabit it were immediately drawn to some level of reverence for the game they so desperately love. ESPN's " The Last Dance ", was that sign of reverence. Divided up into a 10 episode series, the documentary depicts the illustrious career of one Michael Jordan and his time with the Chicago Bulls, and giving specific attention to the 1997-98 Season as well. In the series, we encounter a number of topics, such as the ego-maniac that is Jerry Klause and his relationship with the players, Jordan's abrasive motivational tactics, Scottie Pippen's Contractual issues with Jeffery Reinsdorf, amongst other issues as well.

When examining the reasoning to why it is this documentary came into existence, many will see this from a teaching perspective, as a means of pointing out the trials and tribulations of 90's era basketball for hoop fans who simply did not grow up watching Michael Jordan in his heyday. As younger viewers, you hear of stories such as the Detroit "Bad Boy" Pistons or the "Showtime" Lakers from our elders, that this documentary could shed some light on an NBA prior to that of ones own. Others might be looking at this from a more legacy-based perspective, eyeing this series is a means to prevent young millennials from concluding players post Jordan-Era are the best players of all time. Players such as the late Kobe Bryant and Los Angles Lakers forward LeBron James are frequent names uttered from people of this generation, and when watching such players in their respective prime leaves it hard for younger viewers to imagine anyone being better.

Simply put - LeBron James is hands-down one of the great basketball player the game has ever seen. Very few in the history of the National Basketball Association can rival with likes of the King, as few in the sport of basketball have put together such a blossoming resume that matches with his, in its entirety. Yet, for all his glory, and his breathtaking achievements, does LeBron James really warrant consideration for the presumptuous Greatest Player of All Time? Now, for most who engage in these types of debates, many refer to mere statistical achievements or style of play as a way of catapulting who they argue for, but for the sake of this article we are going to analyze this from a different angle, and look at things from a different perspective.

When we talk about the G.O.A.T, being the Greatest Of All Time in the game of basketball, a few factors do in fact come into consideration. Factors such as natural talent, overall skillset, statistical accomplishments, clutch moments, career averages, amongst others are all contributing elements to this debate. Yet the salient factor that really distinguishes the best players from others, is non-other than immortality within the brightest of moments. This factor brings us right to the main idea of this article: Simply put, In what sport do we as fans, pundits, aficionado's, and sport extraordinaries, do we consider a player the greatest of his or her particular sport while having loss more times in a championship-like setting more than he or she has won. Prominent athletic figures such as footballer Pelé has 3 world cups in 4 tries for the Brazilian National Team. The late baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth, widely regarded as the greatest baseball player of all-time, won 7 World-Series Championships in 10 appearances. Even in the National Football League, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady has accumulated 6 Super Bowls wins in 9 tries. Recognize the trend here? The Greatest in a particular sport have achieved a level of winning that places them on top of a pedestal so few can compete with. Now, this may come across as an implication that championships are the only major factor that needs to be taken into consideration when analyzing the greatest in a given sport. This however is simply not the case, as keeping a blinds eye to an athletes entire body of work of his or her accomplishments is apart of what makes them great to begin with. Championships, in my estimation, are not the sole factor when it comes to depicting who the greatest is in a given sport, but is in fact the leading factor for all athletes aspiring the achieve such status, as the Greatest Of All Time.

Now how does this revolve around LeBron James and his case for the Greatest of All-time? Well, despite the illustrious career demonstrated by the King himself, LeBron James has simply accumulated all too many defeats in the NBA Finals throughout his career as opposed to wins, which in turn neutralizes his case all together, at this moment in time. Yet when examining his championship runs closely and applying context to his situations that have been bestowed upon him, many of his beloved supporters come to the King's defense in such instances, because they all recognize what they see. For instance, a continuous stance that LeBron fans take when defending him is that he doesn't have enough help, and finals losses to the 2007 San Antonio Spurs, 2015, 2017 and 2018 Losses to the Golden State Warriors should not be held against him. Such instances include 1) his teams were not good enough, such as the 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers , 2) key injuries such as Kyrie Irving in the 2015 Finals deteriorated the teams success, or 3) Kevin Durant taking his talents to Golden State in the 2017 and 2018 Finals. I want to be very clear on my stance in regards to this idea: I agree. I completely agree with this notion that in many cases LeBron James, by some unforeseen circumstances, and his championship success has to a degree been altered because of such situations. But when it comes to the G.O.A.T. debate and we decide who should be involved and should not be in such discussion, championships must play major role when it comes to depicting who really is the greatest.

To conclude, I want to establish were I land on my perception of LeBron James: LeBron James is apart of the pantheon of all time Greatest basketball players to ever play this game. An all time Great player that so few in NBA History rival his legacy in its totality. Despite all of this, the fact still remains: LeBron James is only 3-6 in the NBA Finals, and simply does not warrant consideration for the Greatest Of All Time...at this point in history.