Given everything he has accomplished in his career, you would think people might grow tired of debating LeBron James’ legacy and place amongst the league’s best players. But after another loss in the NBA Finals, the old discussions are back, and the naysayers are out to prove a point.
Leave it to a Lakers fan to not just lead the pack, but have to make things up to do so. TMZ caught up with The Game in Los Angeles on Monday night, and he was asked about the G.O.A.T. discussion, which led to him getting into it with a friend about comparing to LeBron James.
“The best player in the world is Michael Jordan, after that it’s Kobe,” said the rapper. “It does [tarnish his legacy]. Kobe and Mike never lost in the Finals, they never lost in the Finals. You can’t take that back.”
Quick fact check for The Game: Not only did Kobe Bryant lose in the Finals twice, his second Finals loss in 2008 was punctuated with the largest elimination game defeat in the history of the NBA Finals, following a season where he was named NBA MVP for the only time in his career. Kobe put up 22-3-1 on 32 percent shooting when he held that L in 2008, compared to LeBron’s otherworldly 41-13-8 on 63 percent shooting to close out the 2017 Finals.
Reasonable people can agree to disagree on Jordan vs. LeBron in all-time rankings and preferred style; they’re inherently different players, despite people wanting to compare the two all the time. But LeBron—who just averaged the first triple-double in the history of the Finals—is so far superior to Kobe that, at this point, it’s laughable to even compare the two. Yes, Bryant is ahead on the ring count, but team achievements are just that, and LeBron lapped him in individual accolades years ago. You should expect nothing less from an L.A. dude, I guess.
Even if he has a poor grasp of the history, Game revealed he’s a wise gambler. He told TMZ he walked away with a nice chunk of change because of Golden State’s Finals win on Monday night, and he brought a distraught friend on camera to prove it.
“Anything that makes me $50,000 richer is cool with me, bro,” he said. “I bet with the homies, one of the homies back there is sick, he can’t even get home.”
Put it this way—anybody who bet against the Warriors in a home playoff game was asking for trouble. Great as LeBron may be, his opponent didn’t go 16-1 in the 2017 playoffs by accident.
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