Cheryl Miller knows a special basketball player when she sees one. But seeing LeBron James play 'like he's 25' at this stage of his career, the women's basketball legend felt the need to use a better-fitting adjective to describe the Los Angeles Lakers superstar.
"It's uncanny," Miller said of James' longevity on The Mark Jackson Show. "LeBron is a freak of nature. Are you kidding me? When he was younger, his downhill was frightening. His downhill (now), it's maybe not as vicious, but it's still scary. Scarier than anybody else has, but you are still frightened with him going downhill on you. There's no answer for it."
"And now, he has all this wisdom, and that makes him special," Cheryl added.
James' game is practically built on an insane combination of speed and power. However, nobody could have predicted he'd still be doing this, nearing 40 years old and 21 seasons in. Father Time is undefeated, as they say in basketball, but The King has figured out a way to delay the inevitable.
LeBron's place in the GOAT conversation
Nobody has seen this sustained greatness on the basketball court like this, and that fact alone gives the four-time champion a firm seat on the GOAT table. For Miller, LeBron's place is interchangeable with Michael Jordan's , depending on one's perspective.
"You know what, it's a 1A and a 1B, and it flips for me," Miller said as she thought about it for a minute. "Michael Jordan, what he did, where he took the game. There was the game, and there was Mike. And then LeBron, he's going to take some time, high school and everything else, and then he got it."
The two-time NCAA champion called His Airness "a sentimental favorite" in the GOAT convo, but James is right up there with him.
"LeBron is that freak of nature and it's beyond generational what he did physically to that position," the former USC Trojan commented. "Michael was a great athlete, but LeBron, how do you deal with somebody who's a linebacker and then some and can jump out the gym? It's unfair."
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Body of work
Many people use LeBron's longevity and bouncing around teams against him. But for Miller, it's another reason why the four-time Finals MVP is in a league of his own. Unlike Jordan, who made his mark exclusively as a Bull, Miller argued that James essentially had four Hall of Fame careers rolled into one.
"LeBron, he bounced around. I mean, who does that?" Miller continued. "Who leaves Cleveland, bounces down, takes heat… but wins in Miami, and then decides to take his talents back to Cleveland, and then win a title, and then bounce to LA, and then win a title?"
"Mike, I love him, but Chicago, (and then) crickets. With that being headed, it's a strong argument for LeBron," added Miller.
The most insane part of all this is that James showed he had plenty of gas left in the tank. If the 2024 Olympics was any indication, The King isn't ready to close the chapter of his basketball career yet. If anything, LBJ could just be starting another one.
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