Is LeBron on the Lakers Rushmore, and Where Should He Go NOW?: A Discussion 

TIMESTAMPS BELOW: Wanted some closure on this era of Lakers basketball, but also wanted to tackle the Nuggets and Timberwolves. Hope you guys enjoy the conversation! Stay tuned for upcoming videos about Anthony Edwards, and JJ Redick’s thoughts on the 90s being “watered down”. APOLOGIES, I think my audio was getting picked up from the wrong mic… ugh. 0:17 What was your level of emotional attachment to this Lakers team? 5:05 Is LeBron on the Lakers Mount Rushmore? 10:40 Should the Lakers use a 1st Round pick to take Bronny? 24:13 Lakers Vs Nuggets in hindsight/Nuggets Vs Timberwolves 47:16 Appreciating Ant and his Leadership

Lakers Mt Rushmore? Not even close. Magic, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq. And honestly I would put Jerry West, George Milan and Baylor above Laker LeBron.

Kobe Magic Shaq Kareem Kinda hard to put LeBron over those 4 when arguing "whos the best laker of all time" 1 championship, no awards, only 1 legit good season

Real Laker fans will never acknowledge him as a Laker great and never put him on the Mount Rushmore of the franchise

As a younger NBA fan, Lebron is nowhere near one of the greats of the Lakers, as a pure laker he’s barely top 10 and maybe not even that lol

Ultimately you’re not drafting Bronny you’re drafting LeBron

Totally off topic but love all the nerdy stuff in the background Johnny. That Tolkein collection is epic!

Wow,kareem,west,magic,Kobe,shaq,worthy,Elgin Baylor,George mikan,pau gasol two time champ, so many great players in laker history that spent either their entire careers or long durations, so little space in Rushmore

Thanks for the stellar content! Keep shining!!!

As a younger fan who views lebron positively the answer is no lmfao. not only has there been a bunch of controversy but he hasn’t even been there long enough to justify it. Off the top of my head i named 7 players who have more of an argument than LeBron and there could be more argued.

No Rushmore. He should think about his son and go to a non-contender, that way they can develop Bronny. A contender will just drop Bronny the instant LeBron retires. I fear that LeBrons gonna make his sons career too much about himself.

Lakers fans send way too much hate LeBron's way, but no, he's not on their Mt. Rushmore. Magic, Kobe, Kareem, Shaq, and West outrank him easy. Mikan's far more important to the franchise (unless we're counting LA only). Baylor, Wilt, and Worthy are debatable.

I'd rather see a statue of Ceballos in Cancun.

The bubble is a short season with quite some ppl out of shape. You can argue both ways, but it was lucky for older people with load balancing like Lebron for sure. Just look at the conversation about de Lakers vs Nuggets. "The only chance they had with the Nuggets is to get them early."

Lebron on the lakers feels like the one student that didn’t help in the group project but still gets the same credit as everyone else. His lakers tenure feels cheap and gimmicky in my opinion

Yes jerry west and lebron share the 1 title but jerry also went to like 9 finals with the lakers. Lebron only went there once. I think lebron shares more with wilt than jerry.

Eesh, I know this will sound like a hater but I don't even think Lebron is in the Lakers Mount Rushmore waiting room. Kobe, Magic, Kareem and Shaq seem to take the top spots with Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain both ahead of Bron in my rankings. Again, this isn't total career but just Laker time and I don't see how he tops any of those other guys.

There is absolutely no way you can put LBJ as a top 4 Laker all time, when you have guys with 5 LA rings. Kareem, Kobe, Magic, and Mikan.

Rushmore isn't necessarily your best four players it's the four that define the franchise into the future. 1 Mikan 2 Elgin 3 Magic 4 Kobe. If you include what he did as a player and after playing days were finished Jerry West is number one. It's questionable if there is a Lakers franchise today with out Mikan and Elgin. Mikan made the league viable and the team was in the financial trouble before drafting Baylor and moving to LA.

He is like 12 to Q14 on an alltime Laker list. Derek Fisher and Robert Harry over him. Putting LeBron over Elkins Baylor as a alltime Laker is ludacris

Lbj isnt top 15 All Time Laker. Accountability, heart, humility and consistently elevating your game over 20 plus years by adding handles, counters, midrange and low post moves to your bag gets respect in Laker Nation. Not just stats.

Y’all three in this podcast format is the equivalent of KobeJordan Lebron

The bubble championship is historic for being the first mickey mouse rec league championship and arguably the easiest championship in NBA history in terms of actual team quality.

Ad is the best defender against joker because of his mobility. Kat too small and gobert too slow without as good of footwork and won't make joker work on defense as much as AD did because he can only dunk. Joker gonna eat and if they double he is kicking out. I think the lakers are a tougher match up. Nuggets just have to get healthy.

Jonny, what about a video: the all-time best inter-conference series that were the best 2 teams or probably the best 2 teams or something to that effect. 54:06

Hi Jonny, can you do a video of lopsided rivalries just like Nuggets vs Lakers and LeBronto and other ones like these?

22ppg on 35/20/69 shooting splits against the Spurs in 2007 along with 4.5 turnovers per game. Scoring just 21 points three games in a row Vs Celtics in 2008 on terrible shooting splits. Blowing a 2-1 lead Vs Celtics in 2010 with a peak 15 point performance on 3-14 shooting in game 5 Complete meltdown in 2011, blown 2-1 lead, outplayed by Jason Terry, scored 8 points in a Finals game whilst being completely healthy Saved by Ray Allen in 2013 Vs Spurs after having 18 points in game 1, 17 points in game 2 and 15 points in game 3 Choked the third time (no charm) against the spurs in 2014. I can see a pattern here Outplayed by KD in 2017 Pretended to have a broken hand in 2018 LOL Failed to make the playoffs in 2019 after activating "playoff mode". Got embarrassed several times, including getting clamped and blocked by Mario Hezonja on a potential game winning isolation play Sent home in the first round in 2021 after being a preseason favourite to win the championship. Didn't make the playoffs in 2022 after having second best preseason odds to win the championship 2023/24 - won 1 out of 13 games against the Nuggets whilst having AD on the team putting up prime Shaq numbers

Imagine Kobe going rui the ball on a final shot…

As Lakers: Magic > Kobe > Kareem > Shaq > West > Wilt > Worthy > Gasol > Mikan > Baylor/Lebron/AD

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Magic, Kobe, Kareem, Shaq, West, Mikan, Chamberlain, Worthy. These are the players I would say need to be ahead of LeBron in Lakers history. After that, the conversation can begin.

I feel like I have a very unique perspective on this conversation. I’m from Sacramento but my dad was a lakers fan my first basketball memory was watching Kobe win his last ring against Boston. Kobe is my favorite player of all time and bron is somewhere in my top 5. I have Kobe’s numbers tattooed on me. LeBron is not on the Mount Rushmore of lakers that would be magic shaq Kareem and Kobe. But he is in that next tier and top 10 with worthy, elgin, west, Mikan, wilt, pau. As rough as his time here has been at times as a real laker fan he is very much appreciated. He brought us a ring, multiple conference finals, and Led the league in assists in 20’. LeBron embraced the city even when it didn’t embrace him and respected the history of the franchise. And he will probably be the first player to play with their own son and even if that’s not impressive it would be a very amazing achievement.

It's a tough call, because for some reason we've almost been programmed to put him in the top two or five or ten. To be honest, to me he never really cracked the top. When he made the 2007 finals, it was a very easy playoff run and he got swept and underperformed. That's ok. Every great needs the bar set somewhere, a challenge and obstacle to be overcome. MJ had that with the Celtics and Pistons. 2007 was when LeBron's bar was set. How would he respond? Would he take his team back to the finals? Would he lift his performance? Would he win some finals games or even get a ring? The challenge was on to see LeBron prove himself and get further. But what happened? The next year he lost to the Celtics. The two years after that the Cavs are a 60 win team, number one seed and home court advantage, and they lose to the third and fourth seeds. Something seems missing with LeBron, and when he faced legit comp in the playoffs he went BACKWARDS from 2007. He couldn't get it done. Losing to lower seeded teams and other guys (Kobe) winning rings. Instead of staying and slugging it out and getting the Cavs back to the finals, he quit on them. He went from competing with everyone to jumping ship to play with two highly established all-stars. And even THEN he went backwards again, choking against Dallas and disappearing. Ever since then, yes he won rings, two of which were lucky his teammates hit huge 3's at the end of key games, otherwise he'd be 2-8. But he needed a lot of help. Was he a GREAT player during those rings, or just a very very good player being largely held up by other all-stars? Given that since leaving those two stacked teams in Miami and Cleveland for Los Angeles and playing with just one consistent all-star in AD, they haven't been that good, it leaves me to wonder just how great he is. A failure to rise to the challenge during his first stint in Cleveland. A largely average result and record with LA. Most of his 'great' years needing to be surrounded by All-Stars and HOF'ers and how he ended up on those teams. I don't think LeBron is in the same league as MJ, Magic, Bird, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq, or guys like Steph and Tim Duncan. I even wonder if he hadn't gone to Miami if he'd have ever won a ring at all. I don't think he's a winner and he's not a killer. He just doesn't have that 'win at all costs, no excuses' mentality combined with the skill. To me, he'll largely always be that guy who couldn't get it done in Cleveland the first time, so ran to make it easier.

Being a fan of a player blows my mind

I’m not a lakers fan but I don’t believe he is on the lakers Mount Rushmore. A lot of lakers fans will hate on lebron because they love kobe so much which is stupid in my opinion, but I do agree lebron isn’t on the Mount Rushmore. I think he is one of the if not the best players the lakers have had, but he wasn’t there long enough.

Jerry West is Mr laker, not Shaq. With West - Magic, Kareem, and Kobe.

Lol. F*ckin' Russell. 'Oh, they havin' fun...' Your boys missed it, but I see you. Savage poetry.

Top 10 Lakers imo 1. Kobe 2. Magic 3. Kareem 4. Shaq 5. Jerry West 6. Elgin Baylor 7. Wilt Chamberlain 8. James Worthy 9. George Mikan 10. LeBron James

This was a very good discussion. Given that, Minor criticism: Dario got interrupted almost every single time he was speaking; especially by Russell.

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Laker Rushmore, West, Magic, Kareem, Kobe. Mikan instead of West is an option, but I pick West for what he has done after playing and because he played more years and he was a lifer (Mikan played one year in Chicago) but is close.

5:36 I'm sorry but if it isn't just players who qualify not having Chick Hearn up there is inexcusable.

Kobe was such an Jordan Stan that Dario thinks Antman have to be the same with modeling his game after MJ. Like Jonny said it’s just god given talent, high level skills

This sounds nothing like Johnny 😅. The voice is so different

Drafting Bronny is like drafting Manny Paquiao in the Philippine Basketball Association. Those 2 can play but they in the league not because of their talents but because of their influces or backers.

Last 4 years of the Bryant Era, no one outside of LA, except the Clippers fans, even talked about the Lakers. They were an NBA joke and the Laker fans were bellyaching. Magic opted for Lonzo Ball vs Tatum or even Mitchell. Six years of nothing, well 9 years of being just another NBA team or worse. That dude went there and flexed, got you another star because you sure to hell weren't winning with those other guys, and won a title with the same advantages and disadvantages as the rest of the league. Y'all think a team of Ingram, Ball, Kuzma, KCP, Hart and Randle would be elite right now or that the national media would be talking about the franchise? Oh maybe you would've gotten PG and Kawhi lol. They'd be hurt and scuffling in the playoffs anyways. He's not on the Lakers Rushmore, but he at least deserves some respect for making LAL viable again.

Magic, West, Kobe and Kareem

I don't think any of the LeBron Lakers years was any good

Magic Kobe Kareem West

Magic, Kareem, Kobe, Shaq

Is LeBron on the Lakers mount Rushmore?... not even close 1 Magic 2 Kobe 3 Jerry (He needs more respect) 4 Kareem Shaq did win three rings so it hurts to leave him out but he was not there long

Lakers Mount Rushmore is: Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and Shaquille O’Neal. Honorable Mentions include: Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, and George Mikan.

As a Lakers fan: 1. Did Lebron bring a championship - Yes 2. Did Lebron bring stability - No 3. Did Lebron bring commitment - No 4. Did Lakers throw away their future for that 1 chip - Yes Not in my book of Lakers Rushmore. Now about your second point of Lebron's son being drafted, I don't like Lakers entertaining that idea that they will dig another hole in their future to have a father-son duo whose father already has a narrative of Coach killer and who isn't committed to the organisation like how the other Lakers legend were. I agree with your point that if it was Dr.Buss, he would have moved Lebron, the same way he moved Shaq and put fans and team first. I miss the late great Dr.Buss. The day they unveiled the in-season tournament banner, I knew that the days of playing for the Lakers mean something is thrown out the window.

Depending on the criteria it can be very different looking mt. Classic Lakers mountain doesnt even have Kareem. Its Mikan, West, Baylor and Wilt.

@0:36 THERE U GO! Spoken like a REAL DIE-HARD Lakers fan! Lebron's just a Laker LeMercenary!

I think the top 4 are pretty decided upon at this point. 1) Kobe 2) Magic 3) Kareem 4) Shaq And then after that you're going to have Jerry West for sure. Big Game James Worthy is also around there. Then you have Elgin Baylor, Pao Gaso,l and Wilt Chamberlin. I mostly have Elgin above him simply because Elgin helped build the Lakers after they moved to LA. Depending on how you feel about their time before LA you could throw Mikan in there. I think after that is when you start talking AD/LeBron. If they had won one more title then they move up a tier.

Interchangeable 1. Kobe 2. Magic 3. Shaq 4. Kareem - 5. West 6. Baylor 7. Wilt 8. Lebron 9. Worthy 10. Mikan Gasol or Scott

is dario brazilian ?

Hello!!!👋 😊

Ants a 2/3-3/4 MJ, sure. So was Michael Finley, Jason RIchardson, Vinsanity, T-Mac, Mitch Richmond, Brandon Roy, Jimmy Butler etc

Russel Broderick takes are a bit wild ……. Bubble championship is historic……. Maybe Historically bad ….. lol

He should be on the Cavs and Heats Rushmore

I would say no to Lakers Mount Rushmore. Too many Laker greats ahead of Lebron. Also, in terms of Lakers ranking, I think Lebron is more Top 15.

There's no way LeBron would play for Utah, Charlotte, Portland (bad small market teams). However, it would be hilarious if the Wizards picked Bronny and LeBron joined him so he could follow in Michael Jordan's footsteps and retire as a Wizard.

Hell no!! Who’s he going to replace?

Not a Lakers fan, but it seems to me that there is very little room for Lebron to maneuver. I imagine the definitive locks for Lakers Rushmore are Kareem, Magic, Shaq, and Kobe.

***PREDICTION*** KD and LeBron go to GSW, and manage to out-poo the PG/Kawhi/Harden/Russ Clippers by missing the play-in (again)

Wolves in 6 or 7. Gobert will be on Gordon, he’ll be able to stay near the rim. KAT is big enough to be on Jokic, if he can avoid fouling too much they will hold up defensively but I think the series will be so close

How is the first part even a real question??? I can think of 6 guys ahead of Lebron that are “Lakers Greats” Probably even more And 2020 is a * title. It really should not count

I'm not a Laker fan but I hope they don't retire his number in LA and I hope nobody will remember him as one of the greats of the franshise, I mean you have 2 huge duos how brought multiple rings to LA like Kareem Magic, Shaq and Kobe, plus other greats like Wilt, West and Baylor, I mean LeBron played few years bringing a single ring in 6 years and what else? He missed 2 times the playoffs and if it wasn't for the play in tournament LA wouldn't even be in the playoffs this season, what are we talking about? He should be forgotten as soon as possible for sure not be remembered as one of the greatest Laker of all time, he has been moving from franchise to franchise chasing rings, how can he be compared to the greatest players who make the Lakers one of the best 2 franchise in NBA history!!!!

The answer is no.

Kareem, Magic, Shaq, Kobe. That's Lakers Rushmore

Mikan, Kareem, Magic, Shaq & Kobe are all unquestionably ahead of Lebron *as a Laker*. Worthy, West & Pau have solid arguments for being ahead of him. Lebron *as a Laker* is bottom half of the top ten.

MY ALL-TIME 👑LAKERNATION STARTING 5: PG: MAGIC JOHNSON .. SG: KOBE BRYANT .. SF: LEBRON JAMES .. PF: KAREEM ABDUL JABBAR .. C: WILT CHAMBERLAIN .. RESERVES: G: JERRY WEST .. F: ELGIN BAYLOR .. C: SHAQUILLE O'NEAL ..

As a Laker? LeBron's probably similar to an all-time great like Wilt. He spent most of his older years with the Lakers. He has won an assist title, NBA championship, Finals MVP, an In-Season Tournament Champion, and an In-Season Tournament MVP. He's probably top 10 as a Laker or just outside the top 10. However, to me, LeBron is the greatest player to put on a Lakers jersey, as overall, I think he's the GOAT. But that's just my opinion

I'd put Swaggy P above LeBronze!

Hell no. Lakers fans already have to leave one of George Mikan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or Shaq off and all of them did way more for the Lakers franchise than LeBron could ever dream of.

Once Kobe retired..i honestly just been a casual Laker fan..Im 100% anllinto NFL and MLB now. idk..Lebrons great, but the connection is nowhere near close for me for lakers and MBA since like 2013

He should go to Galveston.

No winning a Mickey mouse bubble ring doesn't mean anything

Faces on the vid? Too 4th wall for me bro. Also if your co-hosts name is Dario Alburquerque, I already have enough information to know I will glean nothing for his insights and will be immediately closing this video after completing the scathing comment located herein.

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Can’t have Lebron on laker mt Rushmore. He brought them a title but nothing else. So many laker players have done more in the teams history.

Nah to be on a Teams Rushmoore you gotta have a role in making that team great in your era. You gotta be a company man and stick with them. Not just jump on board and ride a wave. You gotta make the ripples that make the waves.

Kareem Shaq Kobe Magic

Kobe, Magic, Kareem, Shaq. If not Shaq, Jerry West. If not Jerry West, James Worthy. If not James Worthy, George Mikan. If not George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain. Hell, I’d put Pau over LeBron in terms of all time Lakers

HELL NO! What did he achieve with LA to even be in the conversation?

WEST. KAREEM. MAGIC. KOBE. . . Must be these 4. As much as Shaq hurts, Wilt was great, Mikan deserves but...lost era, Big game James joins them in the backup Rushmore. LeBlame has to be behind Elgin who bled purple and gold, then ... Scott, Cooper, Goodrich, Wilkes, Macadoo... LeCryer just bleeds money/envy green and coward's piss yellow. Check out his "flex" on a woman spectator during game.

Did you leave Kareem off your thumbnail? Fail…

Lebron to the heat seems like a real possibility. Pat Riley has appeared to move on as a heat fan. Both of these two had success previously, there’s a real chance he could win a ring with that team. I don’t think the heat have the money, maybe a sign and trade, unless lebron wants to take less money. If he wants his kid to succeed in the nba, the heats G-league system is great. Early season, spo would play bronny with lebron. Heat have load managed a lot of last year. Idk. To me it’s golden state LA or Miami. Idk if the heat use a first round pick on bronny tho. In the second round, for sure, I just don’t see Pat Riley simping for ANY superstar.

Definitely not the Lakers Mt. Rushmore. If we talking top 4 Lakers, it's definitely Kobe, Magic, Kareem, and Jerry, although one can make an argument for Elgin. Bron would struggle to make the top 10 Lakers, in which you definitely add Elgin along with Shaq, Worthy, Wilt, Mikan, and your choice of Wilkes, Goodrich, or maybe Coop (imho should definitely be top 10 for being the only other Laker besides Magic and Kareem present for all 5 Showtime rings).

Kobe, Magic, West, …Kareem or Shaq?!?…then we are still leaving off Baylor?! Probably a couple others worth some mention too. Lebron definitely not on there.

I think the Warrior's best bet is to pick up Bronie, so they can wager him to get James. if James doesn't come, brony won't play. Adam will let this happen, given if Bron takes a pay cut cuz his favorite player is Steph. bron has an excuse to join the warriors citing well I only did I cuz they drafted my son. either that or Oklahoma drafts Bronie with a later pick. This also gets James to come, and Oklahoma has so many picks it won't hurt them. the only teams that can honorably afford James that have a shot are the 76ers, but even with embided they won't win a chip; maybe Sacramento can squeeze James in, or if they wave jaylen brown, bron can join the team, they should trade brown for bron maybe

Lebron is not on the lakers Rushmore. It’s Mikan, West, Magic, Kobe. I would actually say he’s next in line but these 4 represent the 4 great eras of Lakers ball and 16/17 rings.

No I don’t think he’s even close to lakers Rushmore BUT people do need to realize he’s maybe arguable top 10 and even if not, without the ring in 2020 he won for the lakers, the Celtics are the best franchise of all time.

Mount Rushmore to me is between six players, and Lebron isn’t one. Mikan, West, Kareem, Magic, Shaq, Kobe. 1 chip doesn’t crack this. I’d say he’s even behind Baylor and Worthy. Worthy is close. Probably around Wilt and Baylor in that 7-10 range

The only people that would put Lebron on the Mount Rushmore of Lakers are LeESPN along with LeKendrick, LeMalika, LeBrian, LeShannon, LeDoris, LeJJ, and LeGreenberg.

I get magic, cream Kobe and shaq above em but I mean saying he’s NoT EvEn ClOse is crazy I even hear people say he’s not even top 10? Jerry west made the finals 9 times and won 1, Elgin Baylor never won one, we could even say George Mikan was just too ahead of his time. Like I mean we can argue all day but the undeniable truth is yall can be so quick to come to conclusions without context. He for sure is ahead of wilt IMO but I understand people wanting to say the lakers that won more and were loyal to the franchise like a dog deserves a spot ahead of others I understand completely.

I love me some Ant man, but saying hes on par woth the best player in the league after one series again a bad defensive team is nuts

Wilt and Baylor are over LeBron!!!! LeBron is 8th at best but might be 10th to me. 1# Kobe 2# Magic (You could swap Magic and Kobe if you want) 3# Kareem 4# Mikan 5# West 6# Baylor 7# Shaq 8# Wilt 9# Worthy 10# LeBron? Or Horry? Gail Goodrich could be in there but I think that is a good list.