LeBron James criticized the NBA media’s “ring culture” on his podcast Mind the Game with Steve Nash, arguing that championships are overemphasized as a measure of greatness in basketball.
He questioned why players like Allen Iverson, Charles Barkley, and Nash are undervalued in all-time rankings due to their lack of titles, emphasizing that rings are a team accomplishment.
“Like, OK, ‘You weren’t a great player if you never won a championship,’ or if you’ve won one, then you can’t be in the same conversation as this person,” James lamented, according to Awful Announcing.
“It never ends,” Nash, who never won a championship during his illustrious NBA career, replied.
“I don’t know, man, it’s just like you sit here and tell me that Allen Iverson and Charles Barkley and Steve Nash are (expletive) wasn’t unbelievable,” James added. “Like, ‘Oh, they can’t be talked about or discussed with these guys because this guy won one ring or won two rings.”
It should be noted that LeBron James himself is often considered a notch below Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant on the list of all-time greats. He has four championship rings, while Kobe had five and Michael six.
LeBron James Doesn’t Think Championships Should Matter When It Comes to Gauging a Player’s Greatness
On the whole, there’s not much truth to what LeBron James is saying here. Robert Horry, for instance, has more championship rings than Michael Jordan. Nobody thinks he was a better player.
While Bill Russell is definitely an all-time great player, his 11 championships do not often get him placed at the top of analysts’ lists of the greatest of all time.
James went on to suggest that the “ring culture” does not come into play with other sports.
“It’s just weird to me. It’s like saying Peyton Manning can’t be in the same room as [Tom] Brady or [Patrick] Mahomes because he only has one ring,” James said, failing to note that Manning has two.
“They don’t never discuss that in their sport. Or telling me that Dan Marino is not the greatest slinger of all-time, or he can’t be in the room with those guys because he didn’t win a championship,” he added. “They don’t discuss those things.”
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What is he Talking About?
In reality, though, they do discuss those things in other sports, particularly football. Brady is almost universally accepted as the greatest quarterback of all time due precisely to his seven championship rings.
If Manning, Mahomes, or Marino had seven rings, they would undoubtedly be ranked ahead of Brady in the minds of most fans. Marino was so good that if he had two or three, it might propel him to the top.
So yes, rings do matter – though they aren’t the be-all, end-all – in every sport.
“I just hope we have to appreciate more of what guys have been able to accomplish, what guys have been able to do,” said James. “A ring is a team accomplishment.”
Last season, after the Los Angeles Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs, LeBron James quickly said he wasn’t losing any sleep over the matter and pointed the finger at his teammates.
Shaquille O’Neal has said that LeBron doesn’t rise above Jordan or Kobe as an all-time great, not because of championship rings, but because of an intangible quality that the latter two possessed.
“I’ve heard players say, including myself, ‘I feared Mike.’ I’ve heard players in your generation say, ‘I feared Kobe.’ I never really heard any players say they fear LeBron,” O’Neal insisted.
James, who is currently tied for 27th on the list of NBA players with the most championships, would have a tough time cracking the top 10 players of all time in this author’s view.
Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O’Neal, Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson, Julius Erving. Name one of those guys you’d take off the list and replace them with LeBron.
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