CLEVELAND — Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge may have single-handedly restarted the team’s heated rivalry with the Los Angeles Lakers with just one statement.
When asked about Lakers forward LeBron James saying he was the G.O.A.T. (acronym for “Greatest Of All Time”) after leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2016 NBA Championship, which broke the city’s 52-year major sports title drought, Ainge compared the future Hall of Famer to President Donald Trump.
“His career’s not over,” Ainge told 98.5’s ‘Toucher & Rich’ on Thursday. “Why he’s saying that, I don't know. Maybe he thinks that that sells. Maybe he’s taking the Donald Trump approach and trying to sell himself. I don’t know.
“Obviously, LeBron is in every conversation with who is the greatest player of all-time, but time will tell. I don’t know if anyone knows who the greatest of all-time is because the years are so different.”
One cannot imagine those words going over well with James, who has famously spoke out against President Trump in many press conferences, as well as on social media, and chose to endorse Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Presidential Election.
James, and several other NBA players were critical of the term “locker room talk,” which Trump used to describe his obscene comments about women that surfaced during the 2016 campaign, and later, took to social media to criticize the president’s revoking an invitation to a ceremonial White House visit for the Golden State Warriors.
Trump comparisons aside, James is not the first one to label himself “The G.O.A.T.,” as his hometown minor-league baseball team, the Akron RubberDucks, honored him by retiring his No. 23 and creating “The G.O.A.T. Burger,” which featured two steak patties with whipped goat cheese, apple cider bacon jam, frizzled onions and blackberry barbecue sauce.
Despite being 33 years old and in his 15th NBA season, James played in all 82 regular-season games for the first time in his career last year, averaging 27.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, 9.1 assists and 1.4 steals over 36.9 minutes per contest.
With his 31-point, 12-rebound, 11-assist showing in a 129-123 win over the Brooklyn Nets at Quicken Loans Arena in late February, James made NBA history as he became the first player ever to eclipse the 30,000-point, 8,000-rebound and 8,000-assist plateaus in his career.
Then, with a two-handed dunk midway through the first quarter against the New Orleans Pelicans at Quicken Loans Arena in late March, James surpassed the 10-point mark for the 867th consecutive game, which moved him ahead of Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan for the most in NBA history.
James extended that streak to 873 straight games by the end of the regular season.
James is the Cavaliers' franchise single-season leader in points scored (2,478 in 2005-2006), minutes played (3,388 in 2004-2005), field goals attempted (1,823) and made (875 in 2005-2006), free throws attempted (814) and made (601 in 2005-2006), and scoring average (31.4 points per game in 2005-2006).
In 849 regular-season games with the Cavaliers, James reset franchise records for the most points scored (23,119), scoring average (27.2 points per game), field goals made (8,369) and attempted (17,022), free throws made (5,130) and attempted (6,998), three-pointers attempted (3,713) and made (1,251), assists (6,228), defensive rebounds (5,156), steals (1,376), minutes played (33,130) and minutes per game (39.0).
In addition to his regular-season records, James is the Cavaliers’ postseason leader in points scored, scoring average, assists, field goals made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, three-pointers made and attempted, defensive rebounds, total rebounds, steals and minutes played.
