LeBron James‘ newest Nike commercial continues to touch the egos of Michael Jordan’s backers. Many Jordan fans say that James is foolishly claiming the GOAT title in the 32-second commercial, in which he calls himself the “Forever King.”
That ad was among the topics discussed by Jordan’s former teammates Stacey King and Horace Grant on a recent episode of former’s podcast. King called it cringe, while Grant said he has not personally seen it yet. However, if LeBron is claiming to be the GOAT, Horace thinks he should just let his stats and accomplishments tell the story rather than try to convince everyone that he’s the best ever.
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“My personal opinion, he should just let it happen, if it’s happened, you know, in terms of the overbearing promotion,” said MJ’s former teammate about Bron. “I mean, he’s on that Rushmore.”
It’s very hard to pick the GOAT because of the generations
According to Horace, LeBron has already done enough to earn a spot on basketball’s Mount Rushmore. As a player, that’s as far as you can push yourself. Now, as to which among the four faces on that mountain is the greatest of all time is up to the people to decide.
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However, picking the GOAT is difficult according to Grant because there is no specific criteria in determining who is the greatest. He says everyone should be judged using the same units of measurement. Not only that, it’s even harder to choose the GOAT because the players in the conversation belong to different generations, and many of them did not play against each other.
“LeBron, KD, James Harden, Steph, all these guys are great, great players in this generation. And that’s why I say it’s so difficult to choose a GOAT because it’s different generations. I mean, back in Wilt Chamberlain’s days, you can argue and say that he was the GOAT back then,” Grant added.
LBJ needs to stop tooting his own horn
Jordan’s former sidekick, Scottie Pippen, also once lashed out at James for calling himself the greatest of all-time after leading the Cleveland Cavaliers back from a 1-3 series deficit to win the 2016 NBA championship against the 73-9 Golden State Warriors.
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“If you are the greatest player, if people are saying you are the greatest player, or people are saying that Michael Jordan is the greatest player, why do you have to say it? Michael Jordan has never ever said that he’s the greatest player to ever play the game. Why? He’s respected all the players before him. So for LeBron to say that, he’s sort of pulling himself out of it because you can’t say you’re the greatest player. You have to allow your peers and the world to say that,” asserted the Hall of Fame forward.
Meanwhile, veteran NBA analyst Jason Whitlock also called Bron’s latest ad “self-idolatry” and James delusional for claiming that he is the best ever. As Horace said, LeBron should just allow the debate run its natural course and let the world decide who the GOAT is, or as per Nike, the “Forever King.”
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 7, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.