Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett recently shared his thoughts on who the face of the NBA was during the beginning of superstar LeBron James’ career.
Garnett and his former teammate Paul Pierce disagreed on the subject.
“LeBron was the face of the league when he came in,” Pierce said. “LeBron started being the face of the league right away.”
Garnett, who was in his prime and won the MVP award in the 2003-04 season, offered a different perspective.
“No, man,” he said. “If you thought Bron was the face of the league in ‘04…then I don’t know what league you was watching.”
Garnett continued after Pierce clarified that he meant James was the face of the league by his second or third season.
“No the f— he wasn’t, with Kobe [Bryant] in the league?” Garnett said.
James’ rise to stardom after he was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft was relatively quick. He was the Rookie of the Year in the 2003-04 season and became an All-Star and All-NBA selection in his second year. However, it did take the NBA’s all-time leading scorer a few seasons to win his first MVP, which came in the 2008-09 campaign.
Garnett didn’t seem to be taking a shot at James, but he seemed to think other players were bigger faces in the NBA at the time. After all, stars like Bryant, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki and many others (including Garnett himself) were still in the prime years of their careers.
James ended up taking the mantle as the best player in the league pretty quickly, but he also didn’t win an NBA title until he left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat.
The stardom that James had as a young player was unmatched, which may be why Pierce was so adamant that he was the face of the NBA early in his career.
Either way, James has done just about everything possible in his 23-year career, and there’s a chance he’ll be back in the 2026-27 season for his 24th NBA campaign.
The four-time champion has been to 10 NBA Finals and has scored more points than anyone in league history. He’s also made the All-Star Game in 22 of his 23 seasons and had a long streak of 21 straight All-NBA campaigns snapped in the 2025-26 season after he failed to meet the league’s 65-game threshold.
Still, James appeared in 60 games and averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists per game while shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 31.7 percent from 3.
