Sports legends are often tormented, driven to win at an almost psychotic level and largely unequipped to handle anything resembling real life. But as he nears the NBA's all-time scoring record, LeBron James remains grounded. williamfleitch writes
somefrom the political sphere), he has always spoken his mind about off-court endeavors in a way that that would have been unfathomable for Jordan. The never-ending, forever-exhausting Jordan-James “greatest of all time” debate has always rested a little bit on this dynamic. James’s career numbers dwarf Jordan’s in most ways , but Jordan’s obsessions shaped the way a whole generation framed nearly every sports endeavor: Winning is the only priority, and to lose is to die.
. But James’s chase for it has been almost low key. His run at the record has felt less historical and more a logical inevitability: incredible but not necessarily inspiring. Partly this is because James does so much more than just score: He’s sixth of all time in assists and ninth in steals. But I think it’s just as much because of James’s personality, which is so different from Jordan’s or Brady’s or Kobe Bryant’s. This feels less like a culmination than a logical chapter in a story we’ve been reading our entire lives. It will be 21 years next month since James showed up on the cover of— and he’s been a central figure of American sports since then.
And now he has a chance to do another thing Jordan, Bryant, and — so far anyway — Brady never got to: end his story perfectly. James might nudge the Lakers into the playoffs, but he does not look primed to win a career-capping championship with them or anyone else; no other team could trade for him without gutting their roster. But that’s what’s special and even revolutionary about James: His brilliance doesn’t have to be defined by alpha-dog dominance. He has rewritten those specific rules.
LeBron James’s farewell, whenever that is, won’t be about meeting some sort of masochistic, championship-or-death mandate Jordan foisted on himself . It will be a feel-good story, one authored by James himself. Assuming he doesn’t win another title, breaking the scoring record will be the next-to-last culmination moment of his career. The last one will be his retirement. And you know what? He has the look of a guy who will be happy when he bows out.
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