Austin Reaves claims LeBron James turned the Lakers’ fortunes around and deserves a statue outside of Crypto.com Arena: "Why not?"
LeBron James has had a very productive first five seasons with the LA Lakers, making three playoff appearances and winning one NBA title (2020). This has led many to debate whether the star forward has already done enough to deserve a statue outside of Crypto.com Arena once he retires.
According to some fans, James’ title alone should be enough to warrant a statue. Meanwhile, others believe that James hasn’t been in LA long enough to stack up against other Lakers greats. However, his teammate Austin Reaves believes James is more than deserving of his own statue.
During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Reaves was asked whether he was in favor of a LeBron James statue constructed in Los Angeles. Reaves said that he didn't see any reason why James wouldn’t get a statue after turning the Lakers’ fortunes around upon his arrival.
“Yeah, why not,” Reaves said. “You know, he came to LA at a time when they weren’t having much success and what was it, two (or) three years, he (already) put a banner in the rafters? So, why not?”
Reaves added that he views James as the greatest player of all time:
“I mean, in my opinion, he's the greatest player to ever play the game,” Reaves said. “You can argue it for sure, I mean, because there have been some really good players, but I've always said that you could name the best person at everything, scoring, rebounding, (etc.), and you could argue that Bron can compete at the top in all those categories. So yeah, why not?”
The Lakers have gone 163-115 over the 278 regular season games that James has suited up in. This came after LA went 126-284 over the previous five seasons (2013-14 to 2017-18) before James arrived in LA.
The 38-year-old is averaging 27.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 8.0 assists, 1.2 steals, 0.7 blocks, and 2.3 3-pointers per game on 50.7% shooting through five seasons in LA.
Also read: After signing $186,000,000 contract, Anthony Davis is being hailed as the future despite LeBron James going strong: "To become a leader of the Lakers"
LeBron James expected to have his Lakers jersey number retired
Whether LeBron James eventually gets his own LA Lakers statue or not is still up in the air. However, it looks like he can at least bank on having one of his Lakers jersey numbers retired one day.
During an interview with Sportskeeda NBA insider Mark Medina last month, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss made it clear that the team eventually plans to retire one of James’ numbers. Buss said that all it will take for James to have his jersey retired is for him to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, which is a lock at this point:
“The standard for having your jersey retired as a Laker is when a player is inducted into the Hall of Fame. I have absolutely no doubt that LeBron will make it into the Basketball Hall of Fame,” Buss said. “When he does so, then we will retire his jersey. Knowing that he will make it into the Basketball Hall of Fame, he will have his Lakers jersey retired, no doubt about it.”
James has worn both No. 6 and No. 23 over his first five seasons in LA, leading to some questions about which number will be retired. Some have even questioned whether both of James’ numbers should be retired. However, Buss wasn’t ready to get into the specifics quite yet:
“That’s a discussion for another time,” Buss said.
Nonetheless, it looks James will certainly be recognized for his accomplishments in LA once he ultimately retires.