LeBron James was per usual right on the money during his Pat McAfee appearance. Stephen A. is on a media tour, and leading the 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers to the finals at 22 was a monumental accomplishment.
Insinuating that Giannis Antetokounmpo would average 250 points in the 70s was too much, though. It disrespects the legends that the league stands on today.
LeBron was pushing back against the notion that he wouldn't have been able to play back in the day when the league was seen as more physical. That line of thinking is also asinine, but LeBron could've made his point without taking shots at the legends of yesterday.
It's also disingenuous that players enter a time travel machine in these era debates and play the same way they played in their era. LeBron and Giannis' skill set stems from hard work and seeing how Julius Erving, Michael Jordan, and other greats did their thing.
Players today have the built-in knowledge of over 50 years of hoops that players in the 70s didn't have. Not to mention, players today have more advanced training, access, nutrition, and facilities. Of course, they're 'better' in a vacuum, but those guys from back then would still be elite if they grew up today. Stars are stars in any era. The game evolves, and Giannis knows that.
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Giannis Antetokounmpo respects the history of the game
It's common sense that players today wouldn't play how they play today. If Giannis were born in 1947 like the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, he wouldn't be a zig zagging four-man.
Giannis would be on the block posting up like the other bigs of that era. Stars are stars, so he'd still dominate, but the 250 LeBron suggested is hyperbole.
Giannis on LeBron saying he'd score 250 points in a 1970s game:
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) March 29, 2025
"It's wrong take…probably more 275 😆 I'm joking. Great compliment. But I don't like comparing eras. It's not fair. If I played in the 70s, how everybody practiced & played, we'd play same way…The game evolves…" pic.twitter.com/p3rtCK38nj
The rules were different; Giannis' patented euro step would likely be called a travel back then, right or wrong. There'd be no fast break eurosteps for Giannis anyway because he'd be giving the ball up to a guard; that's what bigs did in the '70s.
The game evolves, and it'll keep evolving. I'm going to cackle when 20 years from now, the next generation has similar things to say about the game today like some fans do to past greats now. That's the cycle of the NBA community, but I don't want to be included in that group.
Things change, but how you perform relative to your era is what stands out. If they add a 4-point line and a player hits 2,000 of them, does that diminish Steph Curry as a shooter? No, it shouldn't. Things change. Respect greatness.