Forget the GOAT, according to one NBA legend, LeBron James is not even a top-10 player of all time.
Hall of Famer Julius Erving omitted James when he was asked to list who would be on his first and second all-time NBA teams during an appearance on the podcast “Posted Up with Chris Haynes.”
Dr. J said his first team would consist of Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell and Jerry West. His second team would include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Karl Malone.
James is often debated with Jordan (who was curiously on Erving’s second team) as the greatest basketball player of all time and still has a few more years left to cement his legacy.
But Erving explained why he omitted James:
“When you look at LeBron, and anybody that he sort of picks with him … He’s the guy who has led the charge in terms of super teams being put together,” Erving said. “When he put together the team in Miami. He put together the team in Cleveland as well, and he put together the team in Los Angeles.”
Haynes noted to Erving that super teams have always existed in some form or another, to which Dr. J replied, “They weren’t picking their own teams.”
Erving appeared to favor players of his generation, though, and did not include any player who played after the year 2004 on his list. Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal and Tim Duncan could also make a strong case to be included on either of those teams.
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