ESPN’s star host Stephen A. Smith, the staunchest supporter of Michael Jordan as the greatest NBA player of all time, has now amended his previously rigid and resolute stance.
During the popular morning sports talk show “First Take,” Smith finally conceded that he has a change of heart with this amendment: “LeBron James is the greatest player for the longest period of time in NBA history.”
Colin Cowherd was the first to make this statement
Smith echoed the sentiment of longtime NBA and LeBron James reporter Brian Windhorst who made the statement on ESPN’s “Get Up” show. However, Fox Sports 1 host Colin Cowherd has been making this exact statement for the past couple of years about LeBron, calling LBJ the “greatest” for the “longest” stretch of time in the history of the sport.
Smith surprised viewers with his elevation of King James, whom he has always had No. 2 behind Air Jordan on his list of all-time great basketball players.
LeBron James, 40, had a phenomenal February for the Lakers
However, with James turning 40 in December 2024, he still won Western Conference Player of the Month of February by averaging 30 points, 10 rebounds and 7.5 assists a game — some 20 years after he won POTM while with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the early 2000s. In the same week, James also accomplished a seemingly impossible feat: he is the only player to surpass 50,000 points for both the regular season and playoffs, which is many thousands of points ahead of second place Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who has 44,149 combined points.
“Jordan wasn’t this good for that long. Not this period,” Smith said on First Take. “Did he just relinquish the GOAT title away from the best basketball he has ever seen?
Smith acknowledged it’s time to give LeBron his abundance of flowers.
“Listening to Brian Windhorst bringing up this nugget there’s nobody who has been as good for as long meaning longevity. A sustained level of pristine excellence, LeBron James is the GOAT in that category,” Smith explained.
Stephen A. Smith still has MJ No. 1 but the gap has closed
To be sure, Smith still thinks at their peak, Michael Jordan is the superior basketball player and talent.
However, as far as the GOAT of the NBA, 22 years of greatness and consistency far exceeds Jordan’s spell in Smith’s eyes. “I actually think it’s time to not even have the debate anymore because that’s how great LeBron James has been for as long as he has been that great. I can stand down and acknowledge that because this is absolutely phenomenal,” Stephen A. Smith marveled.
Smith elaborates on what changed his mind, or at least alter his perspective on the Los Angeles superstar who is still playing at an elite level after 22 years in the game and will turn 41 at the end of the year.
“You can’t ignore that category you can’t ignore somebody that’s continuously great for 22 years, Jordan only played 15,” Smith said on the show.
