Former NBA guard Rashad McCants had an interesting take when it comes to the legacies of Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James and NBA Hall of Famer and former Indiana Pacers sharpshooter Reggie Miller.
Rashad McCants says he respects Reggie Miller’s legacy over LeBron’s.
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“Yeah,” McCants said when asked if he respects Miller’s legacy over James’ legacy. “‘Cause Reggie didn’t have nowhere near the pieces LeBron had during his journey. And I think that if Reggie would have had those pieces, his legacy…”
While McCants seems to believe that Miller’s career and legacy would have been different if he had played with some of the talented players that James has played with, it’s hard to discount all that James has accomplished in his NBA career.
The Lakers star has won four NBA titles and been to the NBA Finals 10 times. He’s the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and he’s been named to 20 All-NBA teams and 20 All-Star teams while taking home four NBA Finals MVP awards and four regular season MVP awards.
There may not be a better resume than that for anyone who has ever played the game of basketball.
Miller had a great career with the Pacers, and he currently is No. 5 all time in 3-pointers made. The sharpshooter was ahead of his time when it came to knocking down the long ball, but he doesn’t really come close to James when it comes to his accolades.
A five-time All-Star (15 fewer selections than James), Miller made just three All-NBA teams during his career and never won an NBA Finals.
In fact, Miller’s only NBA Finals appearance came in the 1999-00 season when he and the Pacers lost to the Lakers in six games.
There’s no doubt that James has played some extremely talented players – Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Ray Allen, Anthony Davis, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and others – during his NBA career, but he also had a lot of success with them.
James led three different franchises to an NBA title, and he also beat the 73-9 Golden State Warriors in the 2016 NBA Finals after trailing 3-1 in the series. That victory is one of the most stunning NBA Finals results in league history.
McCants is certainly entitled to his opinion on the topic of Miller and James, but it’s impossible to know if Miller would have had the same success if he were put in James’ shoes.
Both players are NBA legends that were great at their craft, and it’s extremely likely that James will join Miller in the Hall of Fame once his playing days are over.
