LeBron James is showing no signs of letting up as he looks to cement his place among basketball’s greats.
The 21-time All-Star has played with dozens of legends in a pro career that stretches back to him being drafted first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers out of high school in 2003.
Four NBA championships have followed and few would leave the icon out of a superstar team.
King James had a go at putting together the all-time best starting five in a chat with former Manchester United soccer star Rio Ferdinand in 2009.
The rare footage shows LeBron naming himself GM for the imaginary roster to avoid competing with another legend of the game.
“I will have Oscar Robertson at the one, Michael Jordan at the two, Larry Bird at the three,” James began as he rattled off three names before pausing.
After mulling over the decision for a second, he named Shaquille O’Neal at the five and put Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the four in what he admitted was a ‘huge’ team.
Coaching the giants was James Naismith — the founding father of basketball.
Picking just five players from the history of the NBA is an almost impossible task — even if LeBron is discounted.
The most notable omissions are Los Angeles Lakers legends Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson.
Bryant won three consecutive rings alongside Shaq before adding two more at the end of his career.
But James decided to go for 7ft 2in Kareem, who earned six NBA Championships — and five in Los Angeles.
GettyJames and Bryant had a rivalry until Black Mamba retired[/caption]
And while five-time champion Magic is considered the GOAT point guard, LeBron instead plumped for Oscar Robertson, the 6ft 5in former Milwaukee Bucks star who became the first player to average a triple-double over the course of a season back in 1962.
Russell Westbrook is the only other man to achieve the feat since, although Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic — who recently replicated one of Jordan’s records — is on course to join him this season.
Some have questioned if Jordan’s listed height of 6ft 6in was correct.
James is locked in a battle against MJ to be crowned the greatest basketball player ever.
He recently opened up about his relationship with the Chicago Bulls icon on ‘The Pat McAfee Show.’
“We don’t talk,” he said. “Because I’m still playing. I’m still playing, I’m still focused on my craft right now.”
“The funny thing is, me and Kobe — the late, great Kob, obviously — me and Kobe never had a real relationship either.
“We were on the [USA] Olympic team, we had a great relationship there. The Olympic team in ’08, the Olympic team in ’12, but it was always competitive between us.”
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James’ relationship with Kobe improved when Black Mamba retired in 2016 and got even better after LeBron joined the Lakers in 2018.
“That’s when our relationship became really, really good,” he added.
“He welcomed me. He called me, like, ‘Bro, anything you need in L.A., I got you. You’re a Laker now. You’re family.’
“And we would have multiple conversations. Obviously, you guys saw him coming to a lot of games.
“And when I passed him for the scoring record in Philly, he had a tweet out there like, ‘Keep on going.’ Like, ‘Keep transcending the game. Keep going.’ And that s*** meant so much to me.”
King James and MJ have a lot of catching up to do when the Lakers icon finally decides to put down the crown.
