Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James has accomplished nearly everything the NBA has to offer in his 22 seasons.<\/p>\n
A four-time champion and Finals MVP, James is also the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.<\/p>\n
While much of his success came before joining Los Angeles in 2018, James has had a very impressive Lakers tenure.<\/p>\n
In his seventh season with LA, James had been an All-Star each year, adding a championship and Finals MVP award in 2020.<\/p>\n
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Given his achievements in a Lakers uniform, James will certainly have at least one of his jersey numbers (6 and 23) retired by the franchise one day, but has he done enough to receive a statue outside Crypto.com Arena?<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) \u00a9 Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images © Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images One of the most iconic franchises in sports history, the Lakers have statues of Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Chick Hearn, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jerry West outside of their arena (h\/t NBA). With James’ career nearing its end, the Lakers face a decision on whether to honor him this way.<\/p>\n
Should the Lakers build a statue for LeBron? pic.twitter.com\/mR2r1He3hz \u2014 BronMuse (@BronMuse) March 18, 2025 As Los Angeles mulls over this decision, O’Neal weighed in during an interview with Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson.<\/p>\n
“LeBron broke the record, and he did it as a Laker,” O’Neal said of James becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. “<\/em><\/p>\n Would I oppose him having a statue in Los Angeles?<\/p>\n No, I wouldn’t\u2026 But he won a championship with the Lakers, and a lot of people try to discredit it. If that one doesn’t count, then you can’t count Mr. Duncan’s bubble championship either.<\/p>\n That’s right. I said it! If we’re counting Tim Duncan’s lockout-year championship, then you have to count LeBron’s too.” Shaq: “LeBron broke the record, and he did it as a Laker. Would I oppose him having a statue in Los Angeles?<\/p>\n No, I wouldn’t\u2026 But he won a championship with the Lakers, and a lot of people try to discredit it.<\/p>\n If that one doesn’t count, then you can’t count Mr. Duncan’s bubble\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/XlTwCOKowz \u2014 Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) March 30, 2025<\/p>\n Having a statue himself, O’Neal’s opinion on this topic certainly holds weight. The four-time NBA champion (three with Los Angeles) would not oppose James joining him outside Crypto.com Arena as the team’s seventh player with a statue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James has accomplished nearly everything the NBA has to offer in his 22 seasons. A four-time champion and Finals MVP, James is… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n