A group of fans ran into Derrick White and asked him if LeBron James was the GOAT, with the Celtics guard agreeing with the take.
Derrick White wanted a quiet summer after the title run he made with the Boston Celtics last season but was called up at the eleventh hour to replace Kawhi Leonard on Team USA. After winning a Gold medal at the Paris Olympics, White ran into a bunch of fans who asked him if his Team USA captain LeBron James was the GOAT, a notion White seemed to agree with.
Fans: “LeBron’s the GOAT, ain’t he?
Derrick White: *smiles and nods*
White and James haven’t had many public interactions with each other despite White being in the NBA for the last eight seasons. The two-way guard only recently came into prominence, being heavily considered for the 2024 All-Star Game. He averaged 15.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 5.2 assists last season, becoming a crucial part of the Celtics title-winning success.
A lot of modern players have started falling into the camp of LeBron being greater than Jordan. We have seen incredible winning feats in the NBA from certain players and franchises, but we’ve never seen a player perform at LeBron’s level for 22 seasons. People may diss longevity in the GOAT debate, but we’re truly seeing something unprecedented in basketball with James’ performance.
LeBron averaged 25.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.3 assists in his 21st NBA season. He’ll still be expected to lead the Lakers to championship success in the same season where he will turn 40 years old. Being a top-10 player in the NBA for 20 years is special and an entirely individual feat, as compared to winning titles as part of a team.
The GOAT debate will always rage on, but it seems Michael Jordan’s winning records won’t make this conversation impenetrable, especially as younger fans and media members who never watched Jordan but watched the entirety of LeBron’s career start becoming more prominent.
Kendrick Perkins Believes The Paris 2024 Gold Medal Solidified LeBron As The GOAT
Kendrick Perkins has gotten a lot more aggressive with his known take of LeBron being the GOAT ahead of Jordan, using the Paris 2024 Gold medal as the final reason why James is the greatest of all time.
“He got one up on MJ right now. LeBron James, he was consistently, since the start of this tournament, the best player on Team USA… Everything LeBron James did at this age was a beautiful thing to watch in the Olympics and he’s one up on Jordan right now. He’s been my GOAT but every time he gets one up on MJ because now he has three gold medals, MJ has two.”
This is a ludicrous argument, because Jordan has two more titles and Finals MVPs than LeBron, along with a regular season MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. This is a random metric used by Perkins to push his own agenda, but James’ GOAT case is becoming more credible with every season.
The all-time leading scorer in NBA history will add another record to his name when he takes the floor with his son, Bronny, becoming the first father-son duo in NBA history to achieve this feat. James’ legacy is all but set in stone, though another championship might make his status atop the basketball pantheon inarguable.