The GOAT debate is perhaps the most popular topic in any sports conversation. From fans, experts, and even former players alike, everybody has their own respective opinions on who the greatest of all time is for a particular field. In the NBA, there are two main protagonists for this debate: Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
Both legends have certainly made their respective arguments with everything they accomplished in their careers.
Michael Jordan has been widely considered the greatest basketball player of all time — even since his first retirement. Jordan is the ultimate winner and competitor. His talent and skill level were unquestionably unmatched. But what set the Chicago Bulls legend apart was his drive to win at the highest level.
As for LeBron James, there are a group of NBA fans and even fellow players alike who believe that the L.A. Lakers superstar has already surpassed Jordan as the greatest of all time. James is arguably the most complete all-around player to step foot in the NBA.
Apart from being an absolute freight train of an athlete, the four-time NBA champion possessed unmatched versatility as a scorer, playmaker, and defender. For over two decades, the soon-to-be 41-year-old has also showcased exceptional longevity and sustained greatness that’s never been seen before.
Both players certainly have great arguments to be the NBA’s GOAT. Utah Jazz legend John Stockton recently weighed in on the conversation with a brutally honest criticism of LeBron James.
John Stockton Has Brutally Honest Criticism of LeBron’s GOAT Case
John Stockton played during Michael Jordan’s era, so he knows what it’s like to go against the six-time NBA champion. In fact, MJ is the reason why the Hall of Fame point guard retired with zero NBA championships.
In an interview with DNP-CD Sports, Stockton was asked about the way James went about his career in terms of moving teams and influencing roster decisions. Though he admitted he doesn’t know what it’s like being in a front office, the 63-year-old offered his perspective from the outside looking in.
“I think it would be it’d be maddening as a teammate to know that you could be expendable for one of his guys that he thinks he needs to play with. The iffiness it causes with the team, the iffiness it causes upstairs. I don’t like it.”
As someone who spent two decades with the Jazz, Stockton took pride in being loyal and working towards the ultimate goal with the cast he’s with — similar to how Jordan stuck with the Bulls despite losing to the Detroit Pistons year after year in the late 80s.
At the same time, he took a shot at how James jumped teams and recruited his guys at the expense of the players who were already on the rosters he joined. Ultimately, he believes this has hurt the value of the championships that James won in his career.
“I think it devalues that. You’re not climbing the mountain, you’re taking a helicopter to the top.”
For Stockton, those shortcuts to the top tainted the grind. To understand his point, it’s worth looking back at the key moments of James’ career when he decided to take his talents elsewhere.
LeBron James’ Career Moves
The Decision to form a Superteam in South Beach
James first shook the entire league when he made “The Decision” to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in South Beach with the Miami Heat. The four-time MVP drew a lot of heat by teaming up with two established All-Stars in their prime.
The move was a success as Miami made the Finals four times and won back-to-back titles in 2012 and 2013 — with James winning Finals MVP in both instances. However, critics still argued that LeBron took a shortcut to a championship rather than grinding it out with his hometown squad.
Homecoming Back to Cleveland
The same narrative somewhat followed James when he left Miami and returned to Cleveland in 2014. They were thoroughly handled by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2014 NBA Finals, and it appeared like the Heat were on their way to retooling. Moreover, Wade was slowly on the decline.
Though everyone marveled at his homecoming, there were still people who criticized him for leaving just before the Heat’s ship began to sink.
When he moved to Cleveland, they had a budding young star in Kyrie Irving, who would be the ideal dynamic point guard to pair alongside King James. The Cavaliers also lucked out by winning the No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, which they used to take Andrew Wiggins. The Canadian was a promising young forward who possessed two-way potential.
However, following James’ arrival, the Cavs traded the unproven teenager to acquire multiple-time All-Star Kevin Love, forming yet another Big Three in Cleveland.
With Irving and Love, James successfully completed his mission of bringing a championship to Cleveland, and they did so in historic fashion by overcoming a 3-1 deficit against the 73-9 Golden State Warriors.
But their run atop the league was short-lived as Kevin Durant decided to join Stephen Curry and the Warriors in the offseason, which made Golden State virtually unbeatable. The Cavs failed to defend their championship against the juggernaut KD Warriors.
But there was still hope as long as the Cleveland Big Three stuck together. Unfortunately, disaster soon came the next summer when Irving demanded out of Cleveland. He was traded in the 2017 offseason, leaving James without a capable co-star.
Despite having an underwhelming supporting cast, LeBron managed to carry the Cavs to the 2018 NBA Finals. But once again, they were pummeled by the KD Warriors.
To the Bright Lights of Los Angeles
James became a free agent that succeeding summer and, for the second time, he left Cleveland now for the bright lights of Los Angeles. The Lakers had a promising young team when he got there. But because of their youth, they did not make the postseason in James’ first year season donning the purple and gold.
In the offseason, James helped recruit Anthony Davis to Tinsel Town. To acquire the superstar big man, the Lakers traded their promising young cast, including Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, and Josh Hart, to the New Orleans Pelicans.
With AD now by his side, James won his fourth NBA championship in 2020 inside the NBA bubble. Once again, roster moves played a critical role in putting the 21-time All-Star in a position to succeed.
How LeBron’s Career Moves Impacted His Legacy
At the end of the day, each of these chapters strengthened James’ legacy as one of the greatest. However, they also fed into criticisms like Stockton’s. Unlike players who stayed with one franchise through thick and thin, the four-time NBA champion embraced his free will in making the best decision for his career.
James may have reshaped the league with his player empowerment movement. But at the same time, he opened himself to critiques that his championships were engineered rather than earned through the same grind that Jordan or Stockton went through.
Nonetheless, it’s not like any of those championships were handed to James.
In fact, he arguably went through the most difficult road in 2016, when he had to overcome a 3-1 deficit against the greatest regular season team of all time. In 2013, they faced the always tough San Antonio Spurs, who were mere seconds away from denying Miami’s bid for a second straight title.
So to say he took an elevator to the top is mildly inaccurate. He just took it midway, before using the stairs the rest of the way. That climb is what still keeps LeBron James in the thick of the GOAT debate.