Whitlock: LeBron James’ latest ‘feat’ exposes him as more Joe Biden than Muhammad Ali

I would love to argue that I’m objective when it comes to LeBron James. I’m not. He represents virtually everything I personally dislike about modern athletes.

He’s incredibly shallow while pretending to be an intellectual heavyweight. He uses social media to feign concern for working-class and poor black people. He’s unaware that his financial success and cultural importance are primarily derived from an overvalued genetic gift rather than relentless work. He speaks untruths for power rather than speaking truth to power. He’s disconnected from any semblance of a biblical worldview.

LeBron James represents the antithesis of Muhammad Ali.

LeBron has sacrificed nothing for the greater good of mankind. He traveled the road Nike, the NBA, the Democrat Party, and China paved for him. He’s the Joe Biden of sports, a puppet the establishment installed to sedate man to the loss of freedom in pursuit of matriarchal rulership.

The Chosen One is just another useful idiot in America’s transition from God’s order to Satan’s perfect balance between man and woman.

So I apologize for having a cynical and dismissive view of LeBron’s greatest accomplishment. I don’t like LeBron James. I’m not objective. I marvel at his athleticism and his performance, but I don’t hold him in the same high regard as athletes from earlier generations, athletes whose minds social media and multimillion-dollar contracts hadn’t warped beyond reasonable logic.

Last night was no big deal to me. I attended a Nashville Predators hockey game. I skipped LeBron’s historic night. Against a mediocre Oklahoma City Thunder squad and a suspect defense, James scored 38 points and surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Abdul-Jabbar sat courtside. A bevy of celebrities filled Crypto.com Arena.

Sports pundits hailed the feat as basketball’s version of Hank Aaron surpassing Babe Ruth as the home run king in 1974. LeBron sycophants took to Twitter to argue the feat proves that James is superior to Michael Jordan. James’ NBA peers and elder statesmen claimed the feat of breaking the record – which Abdul-Jabbar held for 40 years – was “unimaginable.”

The truth is, it’s a feat that was far more inevitable than unimaginable.

Kareem spent four years at UCLA. LeBron entered the NBA straight out of high school. The NBA has significantly reduced the physicality of its league since the 1970s and 1980s when Kareem ruled. Players and teams score far more points per game than 20 or even 10 years ago. Players launch three-pointers at their leisure.

LeBron is kissing 40 in the mouth, and he’s averaging 30 points per game. That’s a testament to rule changes and the cheapness of buckets more than LeBron’s dominance.

I’m just not that impressed with LeBron passing Kareem. The whole over-the-top celebration of it reminds me of the Chris Rock bit: “I take care of my kids! You want a cookie? You’re supposed to take care of your kids.”

LeBron was supposed to surpass Kareem.

It’s similar to how I feel about Tom Brady and all of his passing records. I totally agree with Trent Dilfer, the mediocre NFL quarterback who spoke the truth about the modern NFL during an ESPN documentary.

“Modern-day game does not impress me. It’s super easy when you don’t get hit as a quarterback and when you can’t reroute receivers, and when you can’t hit guys across the middle. I love Tom Brady, I love Aaron Rodgers. I love these guys. It’s not impressive.”

This is such an obvious truth. It’s not even debatable. If Tom Brady had played football in the 1970s, he would have retired at age 36 or 37 with four or five Super Bowl rings.

It’s true about all sports. Baseball doesn’t allow you to slide into home plate the way Pete Rose did. Last night, at the Predators game, the first thing I noticed was the reduction in physical contact since the last hockey game I attended five or six years ago. Technological advances with golf clubs and balls have made golf easier.

I’m not an old man wishing for the old days. I’m an old man acknowledging that the reduction in degree of difficulty has diminished everyone’s accomplishments and harmed the games.

Let me refocus on LeBron.

There’s only one individual record that matters in the sport of basketball, only one feat that compares to Hank Aaron passing Babe Ruth. It’s Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game. One hundred is the only number that matters in basketball. It’s a magical number.

If LeBron wanted to impress me, he’d score 100 points in a single game. It’s a lot easier to score 100 points today than when Wilt did it in 1962. That would be impressive. That would be an accomplishment LeBron could use to argue he’s in the same class as Michael Jordan.

Passing Kareem? So what? LeBron admits he’s not even a scorer. A non-scorer is the NBA’s all-time points leader. That speaks to how cheap the NBA has made a bucket. We should put the NBA in charge of eggs and gas.