Draymond GreenForward, Golden State Warriors

Barkley: LeBron's story "arguably the greatest story in sports history" | The Draymond Green Show

4 Mar 2022 · 4 min

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3:48

In this episode of The Draymond Green Show, Draymond Green and Charles Barkley converse about the evolution of sports media, noting how commentators like Skip Bayless now openly champion LeBron James—a shift from earlier expectations of journalistic neutrality. They then focus on LeBron James' career, emphasizing his unprecedented immediate impact in the NBA, being the only player in Barkley's 40-year observation who excelled from day one. The discussion highlights the extraordinary expectations placed on LeBron as a high‑school phenom, referencing his "Chosen One" tattoo and the anointment as "King James," and how he surpassed those expectations. Barkley and Green also praise LeBron's off‑court conduct, noting his ability to avoid serious PR scandals despite the 24‑hour news cycle, and compare his legacy to other greats like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett. Throughout, the tone remains conversational and supportive of LeBron, while critiquing media bias.

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What's up everybody? It's Draymond Green. Make sure you subscribe to The Volume's YouTube channel below so you don't miss any more of this great content going forward. Like I remember a time when, you know, media guys couldn't be homers. You know?
Yeah.
You even ride in one guy like Skip does LeBron. It was almost viewed as distasteful. And now, It's like, no, that's a real thing. Like the way he rides LeBron James, like no matter what LeBron does, that's a real thing. Like where did that change? How did we go from you can't be a homer to that? Like it's two totally different ends of the spectrum.
Well, when guys started making money doing that. Like, 'cause now it's a full-fledged business. Like, Skip Bayless hates LeBron and Aaron Rodgers. And for me, I hate that because the one thing I try to do is I'm never gonna lie on television because people believe what they see on television.
Mm-hmm.
And if you have watched Skip Bayless, you know he hates LeBron and he hates Aaron Rodgers.
Mm-hmm.
And that ain't right in my opinion because lemme tell you something. LeBron James, I think, is— now, I'm an MJ guy, I'll make that clear. But I think what LeBron has accomplished is arguably the greatest story in sports history. For number one, you look at Kobe, Kevin Garnett, guys like that, they were not good players when they first got to the NBA.
They weren't.
That is true. That's true. LeBron is the only player in my 40 years in the NBA who played great from day one.
Absolutely.
And for him to turn into one of the best players ever, he's never gotten in trouble, especially in this 24-hour news cycle with social media. For him to be as great as he's been from the year 18 to where he's at now, I think it's one of the great stories in sports history. Because number one, he was that good from day one.
Yep.
Which, like I said, as great as Kobe became and Kevin Garnett, guys like that, they were not good their first few years. But LeBron was good from day one. And for him to never have gotten in trouble and kept that level of excellence up, I think it's one of the greatest stories ever, in my opinion.
No, I agree 100%. I always tell people with LeBron, like, that he got the chosen one tattooed across his back. He had that tattoo in high school.
Yeah.
Like, King James, he was anointed King James in high school. I think what's so incredible to me about LeBron is, He probably had the highest expectations of any high school, any player, but especially high school player ever coming into the NBA. Like even Michael Jordan didn't have the expectations to become who Michael Jordan became when he came outta North Carolina. LeBron probably had the highest expectations.
Not only Draymond Green—
100%, but he exceeded them.
100%. We've never, I mean, like I said, even those guys I mentioned earlier, LeBron was the only one who came in with that, like, you're supposed to be the next great player. And he exceeded that.
It's insane.
But the thing is amazing though, Dray, in this 24-hour news cycle where people got cameras all the time, What he has exceeded off the court also, between his greatness at basketball and what he's accomplished off the court. And he's never really had a serious PR. I mean, the decision thing, leaving Cleveland, things like that. But to never get in trouble is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen in my life.
Mm-hmm.