Is LeBron James no longer the best player in the NBA?

Is it a bad thing if LeBron James is no longer the best player in the NBA?

Over the course of the last three seasons, we’ve begun to see more of the human side of LeBron James. In two of the last three years, with the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron’s body has broken down (by injury) by the end of the season.

Interestingly enough, sandwiched in-between a missed playoffs and a first-round playoff exit outcome for the Lakers was a championship run. Nevertheless, over the past three seasons, it’s been feast or famine for LeBron and the Lakers.

Heading into the 2021-22 NBA season, it’ll be interesting to see what awaits LeBron and the Lakers. A panel of 10 NBA scouts and executives, in the annual offseason survey, had some strong sentiments about LeBron as he enters his 19th season in the NBA.

According to this semi-anonymous survey, not one of the scouts or executives surveyed believed that LeBron is the best player in the NBA at the moment. The results were split between the 10 responses, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant each taking five votes.

As expected, it made its rounds around social media and even LeBron posted about it.

Generally, a player of LeBron’s stature doesn’t necessarily need added motivation. However, if you know anything about LeBron and his social media behavior, it was a foregone conclusion that he was going to reference it one way or another.

Nevertheless, that isn’t really the important part. What’s more important is whether or not this “diss” or “slight” was fair or not.

LeBron James is not the best player in the NBA, and that’s OK

Quite frankly, especially with how LeBron has looked the past three seasons, the results of this survey were probably what they should’ve been. Right now, Durant and Giannis are closer to the best player in the league than LeBron.

And that’s not just based on their incredible performances in the postseason this year. In fact, an argument can be made that Durant has been the best player in the league since he joined the Golden State Warriors.

The only thing that really stood in the way of Durant stealing that title completely was his Achilles injury. However, even after overcoming that, Durant looks like he’s picked up where he left off and is making a strong case that he’s the best player in the world.

Giannis made his case with an impressive performance in the playoffs and an outstanding and historic showing in the NBA Finals. He finally got that postseason monkey off his back and is only going to grow more and more confident with that “best player in the world” label.

LeBron is where he should be at this point in his career. At 36, he’s still one of the top 3 players in the league and still incredibly productive. The really hasn’t been another player in NBA history that was this good at this advanced of an age – Michael Jordan retired at 34 years old. When he made a comeback in his late-30s, he was still productive, but not close to the player that LeBron is currently.

LeBron is coming off a season in which he averaged 25 points, eight rebounds, and eight assists on 51 percent shooting from the field and 37 percent shooting from 3-point range. He’s in the conversation but it’s not fair to expect him to still be “the best player in the world” at this point in his career.

In spurts, it may still be there. Over the course of a series or two as well. But to expect LeBron to always be turnt to 100 when it comes to his overall greatness is exactly the way Father Time is going to be tangibly seen in LeBron’s game.

LeBron is not all of a sudden going to drop off dramatically next season or the year after. It will come in spurts and limit his ability to be insanely great every single game.

And, in the process, knock him off from being “the best player in the world” too.

Let’s face it; LeBron is getting older. He’s no longer that 18-year-old phenom or 26-year-old generational talent anymore. He’s still outwardly great for a soon-to-be 37-year-old. It’s OK that LeBron is not the best player in the NBA.