It’s been a 20 year quest for LeBron James and his Legacy to be declared the GOAT basketball player. In that time he has amassed many personal awards, a few Championships and most recently passed Kareem Abdul Jabbar for the most points scored in a career. At 38 years old he is still among the league’s elite players which is a testament to his drive to be competitive, but after all these years, his behavior in the heat of battle is still telling of an entitled individual who really believes he is bigger than the game.
The event in question: Just last week, LeBron walked off the court without congratulating Denver who had just accomplished the remarkable feat of finally getting to the team’s very first Finals. Nothing new for James who did the same thing to the Orlando magic more than a decade ago. Now I admit anyone can make a mistake and when it happens, we apologize, promise to do better and move forward. But not LeBron. Nope. He simply went on to justify his actions:
“It’s hard for me to congratulate somebody after you just lose to them,” he said. “I’m a winner. It’s not being a poor sport or anything like that. If somebody beats you up, you’re not going to congratulate them. That doesn’t make sense to me. I’m a competitor. That’s what I do. It doesn’t make sense for me to go over and shake somebody’s hand.”
Of course he doesn’t mind shaking the hands of the Losers, because he’s a winner, obviously impervious to losing. Sounds like a former President of the United States to me. What a poor example to set to the millions of young people who look up to him.
Yes, yes, it is being a poor sport, it’s exactly like that. Simply saying it isn’t doesn’t make it so. Shaking hands after a heated competition is a time worn tradition which reserves the integrity and spirit of the game itself. After all, it’s just a game. We’re not curing cancer here or sending people to Mars. And we’re being incredibly well paid for it. So yes, anyone can and everyone should shake hands. To think otherwise is to imagine you are better than everyone else and everyone who came before you. It’s not a little thing, it’s a bright red indicator light saying something’s not right.
Sportsmanship is an essential quality that defines a true athlete’s character and sets them apart as role models. NO GOAT for anyone who disrespects the game and their competitors. It’s as simple as that. As Draymond Green said after Domantas Sabonis left the court without shaking hands, “Lost a lot of respect for Sabonis. You don’t shake guys hands after you lose? I don’t respect that… You lost, deal with it. Pay your respect.”
If there is a GOAT in basketball, or perhaps the least disputed GOAT, it would be Michael Jordan. Let’s hear what he has to say about shaking hands:
“I shook [Detroit’s] hands when they beat us,” Jordan told SLAM Magazine in 1997. “I hated to do it, but out of sportsmanship, you have to pay your respects. And if someone beats us, I’ll do the same.”
In fact Jordan was so adamant about the need to preserve the integrity of the game through this ritual that he never got over his feud with Isiah Thomas when he didn’t shake the Bulls hands after a hotly contested playoff match up.
So no, LeBron James is not the GOAT, and with his lack of sportsmanship and respect for the game, he’ll never get a vote from me. If only he had focused on the game and let his legacy develop on its own perhaps he could have been in the conversation. But now, no way, there have been too many great basketball players that have played the game the right way.