Los Angeles Lakers: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar asserts LeBron James is an all-time Lakers great

Los Angeles Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recently made some bold comments pertinent to LeBron James.

When the Los Angeles Lakers are thought about, they are widely known as a franchise that holds a tradition of excellence. Given their 16 championships, the Lakers have certainly had a myriad of upper echelon players along the way to reach the pinnacle of basketball glory.

A couple elite players that are sure to come to mind for any Lakers fan are Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant. Magic’s Lakers literally dominated the 1980s, winning five titles during said decade. Conversely, Bryant’s Lakers likewise claimed five championships during the 2000s.

The common theme here is obvious. Both Lakers legends won it all during their tenure with the purple and gold. Generally speaking, in the hearts of those who love the Lakers, winning a chip is essentially a prerequisite to being in the conversation of an all-time great Laker.

Be that as it may, LeBron James recently bypassed this idea by virtue of a social media post he wrote. According to Arash Markazi of the Los Angeles Times, James shared a picture of himself on the sidelines with four other Lakers legends. The other four are as follows: Bryant, Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O’Neal.

Beneath the picture, James contended that this lineup would stack up against any other team’s all-time best starting five. Frankly, it is difficult to disagree with LeBron’s assessment.

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The biggest area of contention with the photo, though, is whether James deserves to be in it. The other four all won titles with the Lakers, whereas James’ success has primarily occurred elsewhere.

As a result, Markazi revealed that many of the comments James’ photo garnered were not the most positive. Lots of Lakers’ supporters bluntly said LeBron has not done enough to put himself in the conversation of being an all-time Lakers great. Simply put, they want the former Cavalier to lead the Lakers to a championship like the others did many a time.

Nobody seems to be denying his status in the basketball world at large. From an overall perspective, James is easily one of the greatest players to ever lace them up. The issue at hand is what he has accomplished as a Laker, not what he has done throughout his entire hoops career.

Despite the array of negative comments James received from his post, Abdul-Jabbar came to LeBron’s defense. In fact, Abdul-Jabbar recently went on the record saying LBJ deserves a spot among the Lakers’ greats.

Via Markazi, Cap upheld his stance by saying that LeBron to this very day is still an all-around player.

"“He’s already shown he’s still the complete player that the Lakers wanted so I don’t think he needs to worry about that,” Abdul-Jabbar said Monday during a phone interview while attending the grand opening of NBA Experience at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. “They just needed to put the right pieces in place around him. You can’t win a world championship with just one elite player. You need some help and I think he has that now.”"

Indeed, James did demonstrate that he is still a “complete” player during his first year with the Lakers. The King averaged 27.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 8.3 assists over 55 appearances. Frankly, as Ashish Mathur of ClutchPoints alluded to, the Lakers would have probably made the postseason last year if James never got injured on Christmas.

Abdul-Jabbar went on to recognize that the Lakers have put together a sound roster headed into the autumn. Moreover, he conveyed (per the LA Times) that fans will ease up on LeBron assuming the Lakers make it far into the postseason.

"“If he plays well and the team is contending and in the playoffs and advancing late in the playoffs, that should be enough,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone, but Lakers fans are still hungry and that’s a good sign. They want to win and they want to support the team.”"

While no one can refute what James can do on a basketball court, the past is not important at this point. Abdul-Jabbar hinted at this when referencing the fact that Lakers fans remain “hungry.”

Lakers fans want to win now. Nearly a whole decade has passed since the team last popped champagne in the locker room. Whether James can deliver or not will magnify how he is remembered in Lakers lore.

Without a doubt, James has the type of supporting cast that could make it a long way this season. He has clearly proven to Miami and Cleveland what he is capable of in the postseason. It is his time to shine one more time in Tinseltown.