NBA All-Time rankings have been a hot topic of discussion ever since Scottie Pippen revealed that he would put LeBron James over Michael Jordan on ESPN’s First Take Thursday morning. Pippen’s comments were somewhat vague in the sense that he was talking about statistics, but anytime Pippin places James over Jordan in anything, it’s going to create some buzz.
Pippen’s comments sparked Chauncey Billups to weigh-in. Billups claimed that despite how much he loves LeBron James, there is absolutely nothing James can do to overtake Michael Jordan. It’s a somewhat bold claim by Billups considering the fact that James is playing some of the best basketball of his career right now, and still has plenty of time to add to his legacy.
Kevin Garnett hosted a panel of NBA legends on Area 21 Thursday night, and after all the LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan debate this week, Garnett asked all of them where they would rank James among the NBA greats. Garnett noted that doing this exercise while he’s still playing is tough, but it was an interesting discussion regardless.
None of the legends sounded particularly comfortable slotting James at the very top just yet. Oscar Robertson opted to say James was among the greats, which is probably the smartest way to rank players from different eras. It’s a near-impossible task.
"When you got legends like this, you can go anywhere you want!"#KGArea21 stops by #InsidetheNBA and debates where @KingJames ranks among NBA greats. @MetroPCS pic.twitter.com/EFjWM49Z1D
— KG's Area 21 (@KGArea21) December 15, 2017
Kevin Garnett seemed somewhat surprised when Julius Erving revealed that he would take LeBron James over Kobe Bryant, which is probably the most interesting either/or argument you can have among the all-time greats considering they played in the same general era.
Regardless of how non-commital some of these NBA greats were, anytime you can get this much talent in one room to have a round-table discussion about hoops, it’s something worth watching.
