Kendrick Perkins called LeBron James the most accomplished player in NBA history, putting him above Michael Jordan, Kareem, and Bill Russell.
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Perkins was on First Take last morning to peddle this theory. The former NBA champion has played alongside James at the fag end of his career. Perkins is among the foremost supporters of James in the GOAT debate. Yesterday, he contrived even to twist clear statistics against James in his favour.
Accolades are a thing that are purely objective. At the end of the day, they stand out as the most obvious things to judge players’ legacies by. The reason Michael Jordan is considered the GOAT by consensus today is that he has individual accolades by the hoard.
The same argument can be made for Bill Russell as well, although the Celtics great’s stats betray a weakness on offense. Still, his rings, team success as well as individual success amount to more than LeBron James. A similar case can also be made for Kareem, whose stats are even better than Russell’s.
Kendrick Perkins calls LeBron James more accomplished than Bill Russell, Michael Jordan
Perkins made the following post to Twitter yesterday:
“Bill Russell is a legend, let’s get that out, but just like Cadillac’s ran the game before, it’s levels to evolution. LeBron is a Tesla. No gasoline, everything touch screen — it’s like a spaceship. Put a Tesla next to a Caddy and it won’t be close! Carry on…”
But this is not what he said on First Take, where he said LeBron’s individual accolades blow Russell’s out of the water. Bill Russell, who they named the Finals MVP award after. And who might have won 8 of those or more if they existed in his peak.
Bill Russell is a legend, let’s get that out, but just like Cadillac’s ran the game before, it’s levels to evolution. LeBron is a Tesla. No gasoline, everything touch screen — it’s like a spaceship. Put a Tesla next to a Caddy and it won’t be close! Carry on… https://t.co/DPQRWCavfE
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) December 31, 2020
Perhaps Perkins meant individual statistics, which is something that makes a lot more sense. But Michael Jordan is head and shoulders above him in most individual accolades.