Long before LeBron James joined the Los Angeles Lakers last year, the future Hall of Famer had established himself as one of the greats of the game.
However, a social media post by James struck a nerve with some Lakers fans, who don’t feel he belongs yet in a discussion of the franchise’s greatest players.
James used an Instagram post to offer a rendering from one artist, who believes that the players depicted below are the five greatest Lakers of all time.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0_bYK5gVoL/
That quintet, besides James, includes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, and Shaquille O’Neal, four players who were part of multiple title runs with the Lakers. In contrast, James’ first season with the Lakers saw injuries limit him to 55 games, with the team missing the postseason for the sixth consecutive season.
However, James does have three championship rings to his credit, having won a pair in 2012 and 2013 with the Miami Heat and another with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. In each case, he was named NBA Finals MVP.
Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times wrote that one player who supported James’ inclusion in the group was Abdul-Jabbar.
“He’s already shown he’s still the complete player that the Lakers wanted so I don’t think he needs to worry about that,” Abdul-Jabbar. “They just needed to put the right pieces in place around him. You can’t win a world championship with just one elite player. You need some help and I think he has that now.”
Abdul-Jabbar also believes that a deep run during the upcoming season’s playoffs will change the mindset of James’ critics:
“If he (James) plays well and the team is contending and in the playoffs and advancing late in the playoffs that should be enough. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone, but Lakers fans are still hungry and that’s a good sign. They want to win and they want to support the team.”
The first step toward James keeping those detractors quiet will come on Oct. 22, when the Lakers open their season against their intracity rivals, the Los Angeles Clippers. That season-opening game will be considered a road contest for the Lakers.
