One of the biggest debates in the world’s top basketball league is determining which players have earned enough merit to be considered the four greatest basketball players in NBA history, forming the famous Mount Rushmore. LeBron James once made a selection that has since changed.
In August 2013, journalist Bill Reiter, then working for Fox Sports, asked LeBron who the greatest players of all time were, and The King responded: “Michael Jordan… Wow, this is tough… Dr. J (Julius Erving) and Larry Bird.”
Reiter asked LeBron James for a fourth pick to complete his Mount Rushmore, and that’s when the five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson, made the list. End of the discussion for LeBron? Not at all!
LeBron later changed his mind. In February 2014, he gave an interview to the NBA’s TV channel, and according to Bleacher Report, LeBron kept Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson in his selection of the four greatest players in NBA history, but Julius Erving was no longer included—he was replaced by a new name.
The 4 greatest players in NBA history, according to LeBron James
LeBron James and Michael Jordan (Photo: Getty Images)
To the six titles won by Jordan, three by Bird, and five by Johnson, LeBron James added one championship from Oscar Robertson to complete his Mount Rushmore and select the four greatest players in NBA history. However, in 2014, he made a statement that would later prove to be true.
LeBron James included himself among the greatest players in history
“I’m definitely going to be one of the top four to ever play this game. And if they don’t want me to have one of those top four spots, then they better find another spot on that mountain. Someone has to be bumped off, but I don’t decide that — that’s up to the architects,” LeBron declared in 2014.
What happened next? On February 7, 2023, James became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and he told Shaquille O’Neal:
“I’m always going to feel like I’m the best to ever play this game,” officially including himself in his personal NBA Mount Rushmore.
