NBA Legend Isiah Thomas On LeBron James: ‘He’s The Best That I’ve Ever Seen’

NBA legend Isiah Thomas believes LeBron James is the greatest basketball player ever. 

Thomas spoke about LeBron during an interview with Kory Woods of MLive.com.

“I think when you look at, like I say, he’s touched and he leads in almost every statistical category. He’s passed Kareem in scoring,” Thomas said about LeBron. “I think he’s got the most playoff points. Not only that, when you look at the assist column, I know where I stand on the assist record. I think he’s passed me; I think he’s passed Magic on the assist record. I mean, so when you talk about passing, scoring, rebounding, we’ve never had a player in the NBA that has touched every statistical category and leads in some of these statistical categories that we’re talking about.

“There’s never been another player like him. Now, everyone has their favorites, but if the numbers don’t lie, the numbers don’t lie. And he definitely passes the eye test. So to me, he’s the best that I’ve ever seen from a team standpoint and also as a basketball player.”

LeBron is a four-time MVP, a four-time Finals MVP and a four-time champion. He has career averages of 27.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers.

LeBron is the only player in NBA history to rank top five all-time in points and assists, the only player to win three Finals MVPs with three different teams, the only player with 30,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 career assists and the only player to score 40,000 points. 

LeBron, 39, became the leading scorer in NBA history in 2023, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. 

A future Hall of Famer, LeBron is first in NBA history in points, fourth in assists, eighth in steals, second in field goals, eighth in 3-point field goals, fifth in triple-doubles, seventh in points per game and third in player efficiency rating.