LeBron James is used to taking criticism from fans, but when it’s from NBA legends, it hits differently.
NBA legend Julius Erving appeared this week on the “Posted Up” podcast with Yahoo! Sports’ Chris Haynes. Erving named his top two all-time NBA teams, consisting of ten players in total. Surprisingly, Erving declined to list James at all.
“He’s the guy who led the charge in terms of superteams being put together when he put together a team in Miami,” said Erving of the four-time MVP James. “He put together a team in Cleveland as well and put together a team in Los Angeles. He can pick his own team. I ain’t gonna pick his team.”
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Erving named Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, and Elgin Baylor to his first all-time team. Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Karl Malone, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appeared on Erving’s second all-time team.
Erving appeared to go totally old school on his list. He didn’t mention Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’ Neal, or even Steph Curry. The shade towards James is debatable, however, his talent isn’t.
James will go down as one of the top two players in NBA history when it’s all said and done. The superteams debate is a fair one but James’ talent alone should make him top of everyone’s list.