The NBA’s GOAT debate got a whole lot more interesting after LeBron James won his fourth NBA Championship with the Los Angeles Lakers this year, inching closer to Michael Jordan’s perfect six titles. Danny Green went to Michael Jordan’s alma mater in the University of North Carolina and has also played a part in three of LeBron James’ 10 NBA Finals appearances.
The three-time NBA Champion recently joined ClutchPoints’ Battle for LA Podcast with Tomer Azarly to talk about the Lakers championship run, receiving death threats, and the keys to repeat, among other topics. When presented with a question on who the greatest player of all time is, Danny Green had an interesting response, spelling GOAT differently.
“I don’t like to do those talks, I like to spell G.O.A.T. differently,” Green said. “The greatest of their era G.O.T.E. Those guys are all the greatest of their eras. A lot of guys play different positions they’re all ahead of their time and I appreciate each and every one of them, especially the ones that I’m a part of, to see them up close and play with [them]. When I saw Mike [Jordan], I was young and I was a kid still idolize him, had the chance to watch him close and had these. All you see is the greatness, you don’t see any mistakes that’s what I try to do as a kid I don’t like to see mistakes in this great guy. What I’d like to see is the great plays and how well they do things, how efficiently they do things. So you see I don’t do the G.O.A.T. talks, but G.O.T.E. talks, the Greatest Of Their Era talks.”
Interestingly enough, Green’s argument is the exact same one Caron Butler made on the show a few months ago. Butler argued that every era has their own foundational GOATs that were built upon with the next generation. Michael Jordan came after legends who built up the game. Kobe Bryant came after Jordan. LeBron James came after Bryant. And soon, someone will overtake James as well.
While it makes for a fun hypothetical argument, Green says there should be more appreciating of the greats, especially the ones we still have around the game today.
“It’s great for barber shop talks,” Green added. “I have these talks all the time with my boys and it’s fun. These things will never happen, these matches will never happen.
“There’s obviously guys that will be better in areas than others, but let’s not take away their greatness for how good they are. It’s good to have those and fun to have these barber shop talks to compare to see who’s better in what. But at the end of the day, they’re all great is what we’re talking about and I’m one of the guys that sit and watch the highlights, appreciate, and give respect to everybody. There’s a reason why everybody’s here. There’s a reason why everybody is in the position they’re in like in the NBA, NFL, MLB so when you look at certain guys and say, ‘Oh well, he’s a bum,’ or, ‘He’s not that good,’ I’m like, ‘You may want to retract your statement because these guys are professionals at what they do and you couldn’t do half of what they do in their position,’ so I like to appreciate everybody in their craft. Everybody has greatness in what they do.”
Do you agree with Danny Green’s point? Should there be less comparing of LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and whoever else you want to throw ing the GOAT debate? Watch the full episode and comment your thoughts on the YouTube video below.
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