Jersey retirement. Statue building. These are the different tools employed by the NBA and the sports industry at large, to honor the players for their phenomenal contributions to the team. And it certainly is an honor, no two ways about it. But, as is the case, with anything related to LeBron James, there are always mixed opinions on whether he deserves a jersey retirement by the Lakers.

In the latest episode of the Stephen A. Smith Show, which is a fan question special, the veteran analyst weighs in on this. Of course, the question was from a fan, Ryan, who wondered if LeBron would be given that extra special honor of having his jersey retired in three cities. “He doesn’t get his jersey retired in LA. It’s the Lakers,” Smith stated, sphinx-like.

Explaining further, the ESPN favorite, continued, “You just got one championship? One? One?! Look, in the Bubble, it’s hard. He deserves a lot of credit for it, but I don’t think you get your jersey retired because of that. LeBron is LeBron. He’s big-time. Became the all-time leading scorer in NBA history wearing the Lakers uniform. You could make the case for that. He’s a champion in the Lakers uniform, you can make a case for that.”

“But when you consider the greatness of the Los Angeles Lakers; Magic Johnson – five rings, Kobe Bryant – five rings, Shaquille O’Neal – four rings, Kareem Abdul Jabar, when you see that stuff, the late great Jerry West, even though he only had one ring, but obviously he was the silhouette. You could retire LeBron James’ jersey. I can’t rule it out, but if you didn’t, I don’t think anybody would sneeze at that. [But] You got to retire his jersey in Miami and you got to retire it, definitely, in Cleveland,” Stephen A. said, delivering his verdict.

It’s actually funny. Especially because the Lakers owner, Jeanie Buss, practically admitted that they would retire his jersey. She stated that the rule for having a jersey retired in the franchise is to be a Hall of Famer. We can safely say that LeBron James is a shoo-in. So, yeah, No. 23 or No. 6 (or maybe both!) will be hanging in the rafters of Crypto.com Arena.

But is Stephen A.’s claim of the ‘Akron Hammer’ not done enough in LA true?

Was Smith right in his LeBron James take?

We could argue that it’s a subjective topic. Some of the hardcore Lakers loyalists might find Smith’s reasoning appealing. But for others, James’ contributions go beyond just the number of rings he clinched with the franchise. Take, for instance, Nick Wright. In a late May 2023 episode of The First Things First, the FS1 sportscaster makes a convincing case in favor of Bron. To prove his point, he gives the examples of two other Lakers greats, Wilt Chamberlain and Pau Gasol, as a comparison to LeBron James.

To make things easier for viewers, he pulled up a graphic. James and Chamberlain played 5 seasons for LA while Gasol spent 6.5 seasons. Again, Wilt and LeBron brought one championship each to the Purple & Gold, as well as, became the Finals MVP while the Spanish phenom had 2 titles to his name, but lost in the latter category to Kobe Bryant. However, the all-time leading scorer was selected to an All-NBA team every season during his time with the Lakers. For his part, Gasol had three, and No. 13 made just one.

“Everyone else that has won a Finals MVP has their jersey retired there … Pau does have more rings, but he was the second-best guy. LeBron has accomplished far more as a Laker than Wilt did. I would argue he’s accomplished more than Pau did… Pau went to three Finals as the No. 2, what is that worth versus the one championship as the No. 1?” the 39-year-old asked.

Like we said, subjective. But he does have his points, too. In the six seasons that James has been with Los Angeles, they have gone 204-145, averaging 114.9 points per game. But six years before the 20x All-Star’s arrival, the Lakers had a record of 171-321 and averaged 102.3 points per game.

Of course, it is just a small statistical fact in support, but numbers don’t lie. Well, what do you think? Has the ‘L Train’ done enough to warrant a jersey retirement in Los Angeles? Let us know in the comments.