It’s really difficult not to take notice and appreciate the greatness of Lebron James as a basketeer… unless you are a certified Lebron hater or your concept of being a basketball fan is such that you can embrace only one great player and everybody else is a pretender.

Only the Skip Baylesses of the world would find it insulting to heap praises on Lebron James for what he has accomplished in the NBA. And bad news for the LBJ haters…he’s not done yet. Much to the chagrin of those who hate to see King James succeed, at the age of 39 and in his 21st season, he keeps stuffing the stat line. In their latest game against the Golden State Warriors, the Akron Hammer hammered his way to a triple-double with 36 points, 20 rebounds, and 12 assists.

Those numbers are not the most impressive parts of  Lebron’s stat line in that game against the Warriors. Despite being 39 years old, he played for 48 minutes, making Father Time scratch his head in exasperation. Of course, we know that Father Time is undefeated. But in the case of LBJ, he has to wait a little longer. As to how long, we don’t really know.  For now, let’s continue to marvel at the way Bron makes his haters wonder how, in the world, he managed to stay competitive.

In that game against the Stephen Curry-led team, he proved that he could still compete at the highest level and lead his Lakers’ team and contend for a possible championship if he gets to have a competitive supporting cast.  

What was on display in that game is how  “The King” has seemingly created a blueprint for players’ longevity. Longevity as in playing competitively beyond NBA players’ typical retirement age (35 to 37). He is the only remaining active player from the 2003 draft class. He is currently the oldest active player.

He is the NBA’s scoring king, surpassing Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s record almost a year ago. After scoring 36 against the Warriors, he is less than 300 points away from becoming the first NBA player to score 40,000 regular season points. With the Los Angeles Lakers playing more than 30 more games and currently averaging 25 points per game, he is expected to reach the milestone way before the playoffs start. It is a record that, according to basketball pundits, will be hard to surpass. That record is expected to get even higher, given that he could still play for 2 or more years. He also holds the record for playoff points at exactly 8,023.

He also belongs to the NBA top 10 in assists (fourth). No one else among the top 10 NBA all-time scorers is on that list. This is a testament to his being an unselfish player not looking to just score points but getting his teammates involved.

Undoubtedly, he is one of the greatest basketball players to ever play the game.

Forget about the GOAT debate.  Unless a completely objective and statistically sound rubric can be created to determine the greatest to have played the game of basketball, the GOAT discussion will remain tainted with bias, prejudice, and subjectivity. We can always appreciate the greatness of our favorite player without putting down another player.

Hopefully, when Lebron decides to hang his jerseys, he could write a book about how he managed to stay strong and competitive. What is remarkable is not just his longevity but also his durability. He has not sustained a major career-threatening injury that would have kept him sidelined for a long time. There may be times that he played through injury… and that is a testament to how much he loves and respects the game.