ESPN analyst tears LeBron James’ ‘disrespectful’ 250-point 70s basketball analogy to shreds

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James has taken the NBA's old vs new debate to another level with a wild take.

ESPN analyst tears LeBron James’ ‘disrespectful’ 250-point 70s basketball analogy to shreds

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James' 70s basketball take irked Mike Greenberg

The debate about current generation NBA players and those of the past has gripped basketball debates for quite some time now. It started with Anthony Edwards, but Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James took it to the next level.

Edwards’ point that current generation players are more skilled than those from the 80s and 90s had ticked off a lot of veteran media members and players. Some even went to the extent of calling him foolish for thinking on those lines.

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But when LeBron James went on to The Pat McAfee Show, he added on to the discourse. He believes Giannis Antetokounmpo, with his elite skill set and athletic abilities would have scored 250 points in the 70s.

This discourse was sure to catch on in the media circles. Naturally this was a controversial topic and for the face of the NBA to say this out loud, will strike a nerve. The first to address it early in the morning was Mike Greenberg on ESPN’s Get Up.

The players of today are brilliant players, and I’m not taking anything away. But if the best argument you have is, ‘well look how much more athletic and skilled we are now’. That’s the end of any conversation and it isn’t an interesting one. The idea that those guys weren’t great players then, it offends my sensibility.

Mike Greenberg said

The host was using his past experience of watching those 80s and 90s players on the court. That led him to articulate that the conversation surrounding skill is not enough to play against those players. Rather, LeBron James using that to put down players of the past was disrespectful.

LeBron James claims he can play in any era

Apart from talking about Gianni Antetokounmpo’s ability to dominate the 70s, the conversation primarily centered around the narrative some media members have put forward. James then went on to talk about how he would fare.

I will be able to play in any era. It’s funny you hear some of the older guys say, ‘LeBron James couldn’t play in this era’.

LeBron James said

The Los Angeles Lakers superstar went on to add that he knows some of the older players have tried to discredit him. He singled out Dennis Rodman‘s comments and suggested they too were disrespecting current generation players.

He asked how is it fair when older media members and players disrespect current stars, and they cannot do the same. The four-time league MVP mentioned that most media members bring up suggestions that some older greats would have easily dominated in today’s game. They use that anecdote to ridicule today’s players.

Old vs new discourse hurting NBA’s viewership

When members of the media as well as older players use the old is better than new discourse, they bring in an element of comparison. There is no proof of that comparison. But even then both those sets of people bring that in to create a narrative.

Former league MVP and current Inside the NBA panelist Charles Barkley is well known for criticizing current generation players. His constant rhetorics about how bad a team plays even if they are competing for a playoff spot is repetitive content nowadays.

FS1 analyst Jason McIntyre claimed these non-stop negative arguments about current teams and players are one of the reasons fans do not want to watch the NBA. When those old heads say all these negative things, it starts to clout the minds of viewers.

Then they start to believe that the NBA is actually worse than it was. That is even if a neutral view might indicate otherwise. Everyone wants to be in the limelight and create one’s own paycheck. That has enabled those analysts to take the negative rhetoric as far as they can.