LeBron James has been with the Lakers for four seasons now. The first without playoffs, the second with a ring, the third falling in the first round and the last one again without playoffs. Perhaps it is a somewhat short background for someone who is considered by many to be the best player of all time, but it is no less true that blaming him for all the responsibility would be unfair. On the other side of the scale, we have that he was able to break a streak of six years without the Angelenos being in the postseason and, of course, the Orlando bubble ring. Yes, we can say that for now it is a trajectory of chiaroscuro that makes some doubt about his legacy with the gold and purple jersey. In that group of sceptics is Richard Jefferson, someone who knows him well (they were teammates) and who places him outside the circle of Lakers legends.
“LeBron James hasn´t done enough as a Lakers player to be on that list. This is your fourth season, right? He´s been there four seasons. Two years have not reached the postseason. One year they lost in the first round. And one year, they won a championship”.
The Jefferson may not be wrong. For now, what LeBron has done is far from greats like Jerry West, Magic Johnson, Kareen Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Kryant or Shaquille O´Neal. It is true that they came to the Lakers at a young age and stayed for many years, which is an advantage over James, who began his journey with the team in the last years of his career. Perhaps if in these four courses he had been more successful, the current situation would be different, but yes, as Jefferson says, and no matter how good a player LeBron is -which he is-, for now he does not seem to deserve a statute at the foot of the Staples Center.
