Even at the age of 39, James is still a high-profile NBA superstar, even in the 23-24 NBA season, the Lakers' record is now only hovering in the play-offs, but basically no media will deny James's ability, as Stephen A. Smith said at the time: James is a superstar in any period! But if we put it in the same era as Jordan, what will be the result?
It is reported that NBA celebrity Stephen M. A. Smith once defined and praised James like this: In any era, James, who has 27+7+7 in his career, will have fewer points in the most statistics, but may have more assists, and although the free throw is not stable enough, his statistics will be the same, which means that James can become a superstar at any time, no matter what kind of basketball rules he faces!
This seems to be the celebrity's recognition of James's ability, but the success of the player is not only the ability but also the mentality, so Smith's follow-up words can be summarized as: Although James can become a superstar in any period, in the 90s, that is, if he played at the same time as Jordan, he would not be able to win the championship!
Why? In the eyes of the legend, James's mentality is not enough to make him a "crazy" player, not enough to be like Jordan, who may be constantly eliminated by the Pistons, but eventually he will become stronger so that he can sweep the opponent! Jordan is constantly fighting against everyone, in order to strengthen himself to find the possibility of breakthrough, this process makes him the best in history!
In Smith's view, what James lacks is this mentality, because he is too kind, he can get along with others, but this is not enough for him to win the championship during Jordan's period, because without a ruthless enough mentality, he can only end up like Barkley, except for the championship basically everything, but in Jordan's era, he can only become Barkley at the highest!
From this point of view, it doesn't talk about skills or anything else, the main thing is a mentality, after all, Barkley's personal ability and team configuration are enough to be described as excellent, but what I met is Jordan who is stronger than you if you are stronger, this mentality of who to choose from me, let the god of basketball overwhelm the superstars of that era, becoming the most dazzling existence, and James can not be compared to that era? What do you think?