Many NBA insiders and fans alike were a little confused after seeing Julius Erving name his top ten all-time NBA players and ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith has some thoughts on it.
The list included the likes of Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, Ervin ‘Magic’ Johnson, Karl Malone and Tiny Archibald.
So, obviously, no active NBA players were included and what was even more surprising was no mention of LeBron James.
This was the main issue Smith had with the list, as well as no Stephen Curry.
“[Julius Erving] didn’t choose any active players… He’s entitled to his own opinion, I just think he’s wrong,” Smith said on First Take. “You cannot have an all-time top 10 list without LeBron James. I’ve got LeBron James as a top-two player all time, what do you mean he’s not on the list?
“You talk about Steph not being on the list. Steph has been in the league for over a decade, he’s got four championships. LeBron James has been in the league for 20 years. He played more years than most of the players Dr. J had on the list, so certainly experience is not an issue there.”
Smith went on to say he understands other active players being left off the list but he couldn’t make peace with the league’s highest all-time scoring leader in King James being omitted.
“LeBron James for what he brings to the table, is one of the top two or three players in the history of basketball,” Smith said. “Anyone that knows basketball knows that.”
LeBron will play for the Lakers this upcoming season, which will be his 21st season in the league.
There have only been five other NBA players in history to achieve this – Robert Parish, Kevin Willis, Kevin Garnett, Vince Carter and Dirk Nowitzki.
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