After the Los Angeles Lakers were swept in the Western Conference Finals last year, LeBron James’ comments about contemplating retirement provided a wakeup call for fans.
It served as a reminder that James is in the latter stages of his career and there may not be many years left of him in the purple and gold. The key to the offseason for Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka was to add more depth to lessen the workload of James and his co-star Anthony Davis.
Now five games into the young season, the plan was to limit the four-time champion’s minutes, but he is averaging 35.6 minutes. Playing two overtime contests in the past three games, James’ minutes were higher than one would like, but they were necessary. He recently logged 42 minutes on Wednesday in an overtime win against the L.A. Clippers, leading the Lakers to a comeback victory with 35 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists.
Former Laker Lou Williams gave his opinion on the all-time leading scorer by calling him the greatest of all time after his latest performance, via Run It Back on FanDuel TV:
"The greatest of all time, give him [LeBron James] his flowers."@TeamLou23 says LeBron is the GOAT and you can't change his mind 🐐
📺: https://t.co/qYBPWhYgh7 pic.twitter.com/QRd35nBQLo
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) November 2, 2023
Williams has had a lengthy NBA career and has had his fair share of matchups with James, clearly seeing no decline in the the soon-to-be 39-yeqr-old. In five games, James is averaging 24.6 points, 9.2 rebounds and 6.6 assists on 56.5% from the field and 35.5% from 3.
The greatest of all time discussions have picked up due to James seemingly outlasting Father Time. Wednesday’s game reminded fans that he can still drop an efficient 35 points while logging heavy minutes when needed. There has simply not been an athlete with James’ ability to take care of his body each and every offseason to continue to still be playing at this high of a level.
The consensus top two in the GOAT conversation are James and Michael Jordan and arguments can be made for either player. But it is simply remarkable what is happening thus far in James’ 21st season and it’s good to see him getting appreciation from someone like Williams.
Jayson Tatum in awe of James’ performance versus Clippers
One of the biggest rising stars in the league is Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and he was watching the Lakers battle the Clippers on Wednesday as well. Tatum took to social media to share his amazement of LeBron’s performance.
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