Has the Los Angeles superstar achieved enough in Tinseltown to be remembered in bronze?
Former three-time All-Star point guard Gilbert Arenas has apparently reversed course on his prediction that 20-time All-Star Los Angeles Lakers combo forward LeBron James had not achieved enough to merit a bronze statue in front of Crypto.com Arena.
For context, earlier this year, Arenas appeared on DraftKings’ “Nightcap” podcast, cohosted by former NFL stars Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson. When asked if James deserved to be memorialized in bronze by Sharpe, Arenas offered up a harsh rebuke.
“If his career stopped right now? Hell nah. He don’t have enough accolades in the Laker uniform,” Arenas claimed at the time. “The closest statue we have with that was with Shaq — Shaq, eight years… three [championship] rings. So it’s going to be hard to put him in there with six years, 8,000 points scored [in an L.A. uniform], one championship, six [All-Star appearances], that’s not good enough for a statue in Los Angeles. They can just put his shoes, they can just start with the shoes.”
It’s strange that Arenas insisted on capping James’ run with the Lakers at six seasons. Surely Arenas realized that, even prior to this summer, James had been under contract for the 2024-25 season, which would have been a record-tying 22nd, and likely would have increased his career points with Los Angeles by 1100-1600. James eventually declined his player option for this season, instead inking a two-year, $101.4 million deal to stay a Laker until 2025-26.
Now, Arenas appears to have markedly changed his tune about James, as he stated in a fresh episode of his cleverly-monikered podcast “Gil’s Arena.”
“LeBron James will have a statue at Staples because you’re not gonna have the No. 1 scorer in NBA history not there,” Arenas stated.
“Cleveland’s gonna give him one no matter what,” Arenas said of the team where James has spent the majority of his NBA career. The four-time MVP won two of those awards there and brought the Cavaliers to five NBA Finals, winning in 2016.
“He can possibly be three,” Arenas said, no doubt referring to his four-year Miami Heat tenure that yielded four consecutive Finals appearances and two championships. “100 percent sure he will have two because there’s no way Los Angeles don’t have him with the name.”
