In the 22 years since Lebron James heard his name called at the NBA Draft, he has won four championships, four MVP awards and stands alone as the NBA’s all-time points leader.
While James is no longer springing in the air on a nightly basis like he used to, he maintains a level of consistency that young upstart players vying for superstar status could only dream of. James averaged 24.4 points per game while grabbing 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists in the 2024-25 season.
Two decades of otherworldly reliability, a laundry list of records and a trophy case rivaled by few others has made James the face of athletic longevity. This is a wonderful footnote to the end of his career, but has become a crutch in many arguments for why James is the GOAT.
James’ only other true competitor for GOAT status, Michael Jordan, had a legendary peak as a player. Jordan collected six championships in two separate three-peats, five MVPs and 10 scoring titles in his 15-year career.
The continued focus on James’ endurance rather than his similar body of work and awards, has boiled down the debate to whether a player’s peak or longevity is more important.
James’ case for the top spot in NBA history being boiled down to how long he has played is a disservice to the rest of his career. Like Jordan, James has achieved spectacular feats of his own that could be a case for GOAT status itself.
In 2016, James’ career was at a crossroads. It had been two years since he left the Miami Heat and returned to Cleveland to play for the Cavaliers.
He had accolades worthy of a Hall of Fame career and was cemented as one of the best to ever do it, but to many he wasn’t, citing events like his first departure from Cleveland in 2010 to form a superteam with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami and his Game 4 collapse in the 2011 finals.
On June 10, 2016, James and the Cavaliers walked off the court in Cleveland after losing the fourth game of the NBA Finals to the Golden State Warriors, falling to a 3-1 deficit and being written off as a longshot to win the series.
For even any mild fan of basketball, the rest of the story is forever etched in their minds.
James and the Cavaliers won Games 5, 6 and 7 to complete one of the most inconceivable victories in NBA history, becoming the first team to complete a 3-1 series comeback in the history of the finals.
With such a historical and improbable comeback, it’s likely frustrating for many fans of James to see that achievement take a backseat to his career stats that have accumulated over his 22 seasons of play.
The GOAT debate is a complicated one. It is a multifaceted discussion that is often attempted to be minimized to a matter of preference, Jordan’s peak versus James’ longevity. The reality is James’ continued individual success is only a footnote for his case. He holds just as many accolades and arguably a greater single moment in his career.
Condensing James’ storied career down to only his long-term durability not only diminishes his success, but dismantles the foundation of his GOAT case entirely.