Yahoo Sports LeBron James: ‘I feel like I’m the best basketball player that ever played the game’
What did you expect him to say?
LeBron James is on the cusp of breaking the NBA’s all-time scoring record held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar since 1984. LeBron is just 36 points away from setting a new record, which could come Tuesday night against the Thunder in Los Angeles or Thursday against the Bucks. His taking over one of basketball’s most hallowed — and long-considered unbreakable — records only adds to his tally in the GOAT debate… not that it’s a debate for LeBron. He is confident where he stands, something he told Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register (and Southern California News Group).
“What I bring to the table as a basketball player … I feel like I’m the best basketball player that ever played the game,” he said. “That’s just my confidence, that’s just what I bring to the table, what I possess. But as far as if the scoring record gets me to another level, I don’t know.”
If LeBron didn’t have the confidence to make that statement, he wouldn’t be in a position to have this conversation. He gets not everybody is going to see things the same way, but it’s at the least a conversation.
“I think he’s gonna have the greatest career of all time,” Sixers coach Doc Rivers said of LeBron. “I think he’s already had it, you know, and I think Michaels the greatest of all time. But that doesn’t take anything away from LeBron. LeBron has had the greatest career.”
The impressive part of LeBron’s run is that he has done this for 20 years — his commitment to conditioning, to investing in his body as far back as high school, is paying off now. For LeBron to have played 20 seasons without missing time due to a significant injury is a combination of his intense preparation and a little luck. All that work, all those years are paying off now.
LeBron will have another pillar for his GOAT argument once he breaks the record. Not that he thinks he need another one.
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LeBron James: ‘I feel like I’m the best basketball player that ever played the game’ originally appeared on NBCSports.com
