The second the sports world got shut down, NBA fans all knew this news cycle was coming:
Where does LeBron rank among the NBA’s all-time greats?
And … it’s back.
Over the past few years, NBA Hall of Famer and TNT analyst Charles Barkley has stubbornly refused to recognize LeBron among the top 5 basketball players to ever play the game. In 2016, he said of LeBron, “He’s not going to be in the top 3. First of all, my top 5 is never going to change.”
His top 5 at the time included Michael Jordan, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar and Wilt Chamberlain. Kobe Bryant was sixth and Tim Duncan was seventh.
Asked to revisit those rankings in a recent video chat with Kentucky coach John Calipari, Barkley did improve LeBron’s spot on his list … slightly.
Barkley had LeBron come in at No. 7, and this time, Barkley didn’t mention Duncan. He said of LeBron:
“I love LeBron and everything about him, but I do think the way they play the game today, he didn’t want any part of those bad-boy Pistons. Let me tell you something, those guys were out there trying to hurt people.”
I’m not sure how it’s fair to rank LeBron — who is third all-time in scoring, the winner of four MVPs, three NBA titles, three Finals MVPs — seventh on the basis of thinking that he wouldn’t be able to handle the Pistons’ cheap shots of the early ’90s.
But it’s Barkley’s list. He can sort it how he wants.
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