LeBron James has had without a doubt one of the greatest careers of all time with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, and Los Angeles Lakers.
This has led many to begin debating whether or not James is the greatest player of all time — usually when compared to Michael Jordan. The James vs. Jordan debate has been ongoing for several seasons now ever since James led the Cavaliers to beat the 73-9 Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals.
Another common debate among players and fans alike is the NBA Mount Rushmore, which is usually considered to be the four greatest players in league history. Players like Kevin Durant and Magic Johnson have weighed in in recent years and even Ice Cube has made his own edition.
The newest addition to this argument is Walt Frazier. Frazier came in with a scorching hot take that James is not present on his Mount Rushmore, according to Rob Lep of Sports Illustrated:
“Curry was the only unanimous MVP. They should apologize to Russell and Chamberlain for what they did for the game and the dominance they had. Jordan is up there too well deserved. LeBron I don’t think is right up there with those guys. He’s not on Mt Rushmore. But, Jabbar, Chamberlain, Russell, Robertson — those guys were magnificent in what they did for the game.”
It makes sense that Frazier — who played from the 1967-80 NBA seasons — would only include players from his era of basketball, leaving off even Jordan. His argument for this grouping is those four did more for the game of basketball than anybody else.
While there’s likely a ton of counterarguments and revisions that could be made for this specific Mount Rushmore, Frazier simply believes that without those four players, the NBA wouldn’t exist as it does today.
Regardless, players like Jordan, James, Shaquille O’Neal, Magic Johnson, and Kobe Bryant are usually some of the first people discussed in a Mount Rushmore and rarely are all of these massive names left off.