LeBron James is one of the greatest basketball players we’ve ever seen. The 37-year-old is currently playing his 20th season in the NBA, and he still looks like one of the best players in the league. He’s on his way to chasing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the NBA’s scoring record.
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A 4x NBA Champion, 4x NBA MVP, 4x Finals MVP, and an 18x All-Star, LeBron boasts an impressive resume. His achievements on the court often put him in the conversation for GOAT alongside Michael Jordan.
This comparison has been brought up since LeBron won his championships in Miami. Since then, a lot of people have given their own takes regarding the same. While some explain their selection on the basis of the merits, others go as far as to bring the other candidate down. Dennis Rodman falls in the latter category.
Dennis Rodman gets a bold reply from LeBron James
In 2013, LeBron was starting to get comparisons to Michael Jordan and contention for the GOAT spot. Dennis Rodman wasn’t particularly fond of the same, and spoke up about it.
“It’s really not a comparison. If LeBron was playing in the late ’80s and early ’90s, he would be just an average player. To do what Michael has done … what he did was more charisma, there was more articulating and stuff like that. LeBron is more like … there’s no flash to his game.”
We heard no response from LeBron regarding the same. However, in 2016, the King could not take the disrespect anymore, and spoke up about the same.
“Yeah, for me personally in my career I’ve done nothing but big-up the guys who paved the way for us. I’m respectful to all the guys who paved the way, the greats, guys who were role players, guys who were part of a championship team or was not. I’ve always been respectful, so it does kind of suck when you’ve got guys who played before us and paved the way for us (and) …they like to talk down on a lot of our players, saying, ‘Well if they played in our era it wouldn’t be the same.’”
LeBron defended Stephen Curry from Rodman’s statements
For a good part of three years, LeBron stayed quiet about the comments from Dennis Rodman. However, when Rodman went after Stephen Curry and said,
“If Steph played in our era, then we’d be more physical with him and we’d go at him.”
Steph had just won back-to-back MVPs, became the league’s first unanimous MVP, made a record 402 triples in a season, and led the Warriors to a 73-win season. LeBron couldn’t take the disrespect anymore. He said,
“I heard Dennis Rodman say if I played in their era I’d just be an average player – yeah, about me, that I’d be just an average player,” James said. “And they say the same things about Steph, ‘If Steph played in our era, then we’d be more physical with him and we’d go at him.’ And it sucks because we’re just trying to carry the torch for the next group to come behind us.”
Despite their four NBA Finals encounters, Steph and LeBron have mutual respect and admiration for one another. Seeing LBJ stand up for Steph was a great sight and exactly how it should be.
