Getty Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
There’s been so much debate over who is the best player in the NBA over the last few years. LeBron James spent nearly two decades dominating the league but it just seemed like a matter of time before somebody better showed up. Kevin Durant looked like he could take the mantle, then Steph Curry, Kawhi Leonard and, most recently, Giannis Antetokounmpo.
While all four of those men are elite superstars, none of them have done enough to prove that they’re better than LeBron. Giannis made it clear that awards and stats don’t matter. He believes that the Los Angeles Lakers star is the best around and it’s not even debatable.
“For sure, I think he’s one of the best players in the league. For sure. There’s no doubt,” Giannis said, via USA Today. “He’s a champion. And as long as you’re the champion, you’re the best player in the league. I don’t care who’s the MVP, I don’t care who’s the leading scorer in the NBA. If you’re the champion on the best team, I think you’re the best player in the league, the best player in the world.
“There’s going to be other opinions out there. Some people are going to say he’s not the best player in the world, and some people are going to say somebody else. It’s the same thing with the debate ‘who is the best, Jordan or LeBron?’ There’s going to be 50% of people that are going to say Jordan, 50% of people are going to say LeBron. It doesn’t really matter because at the end of the day, just being in that conversation, you’re the one, you know?”
LeBron is in the midst of an MVP campaign at 36 years old. He’s somehow still the best player in the world and it’s not really up for debate.
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Giannis Believes LeBron Will Make a Great GM
Not only is LeBron a great player, but he’s also great at putting teams together. Ever since the NBA has started doing drafts for the All-Star games, LeBron is 4-0. Giannis seems to think the Lakers star will have a career as a general manager in the future.
It’s not a given that LeBron will go the route of other Lakers greats like Jerry West and Magic Johnson. Working in the front office doesn’t really seem like his style. However, he clearly has a lot of love for basketball and could feel the itch to get back involved after taking some time off.
Jeanie Buss Hoping LeBron Plays for Another Decade
Before LeBron showed up in Los Angeles, the Lakers were NBA bottom-feeders. They missed the playoffs for five straight years and didn’t seem to be getting that much better. Though the team missed the playoffs in LeBron’s first year, he won them a championship in his second.
The superstar recently hinted that he’d like to play with his son Bronny. That would mean he’d have to be in the league at least until 2023, when Bronny James is scheduled to finish high school, and 2024 if the NBA does not change the one-and-done college rule.
Lakers owner Jeanie Buss said on ESPN’s First Take she is happy to have LeBron around for as long as he’d like:
It is like a really good match. We want him to stay around as long as he wants to stay around. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played till he was 42. LeBron said something the other day how he probably won’t play when he’s 46. So maybe somewhere between now and 46, so another 10 years, whatever he wants to do. We love having him, I have to say he drafted a really good All-Star team yesterday. He knows basketball, he’s competitive. We’re having a lot of fun having him around, the one thing that’s missing are the fans.
The Lakers are incredibly loyal to their stars, especially the ones who bring them championships.
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