Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Says This Is Why LeBron James Just Damaged His Legacy

Basketball player LeBron James always had a successful career during his time playing for the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. However, it is James' tenure with the Los Angeles Lakers that has skyrocketed his legacy, after joining the team in 2018. This month alone, James celebrated his 15th Christmas season by breaking not one, but two new records. After scoring a free throw, James became the NBA's all-time highest scorer, a feat once held by his teammate, the late Kobe Bryant. In addition, James also surpassed former Lakers player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar by scoring the most points on a single day, according to ESPN.

However, Abdul-Jabbar has been outspoken about his thoughts regarding James' performance on the court. "For me, winning is enough. Why do you need to do a stupid, childish dance and disrespect the other team on the court?" Abdul-Jabbar said in a video he uploaded to YouTube in December. "It doesn't make sense. GOATs don't dance." Now, the basketball legend is speaking out once more about how he feels that LeBron James has damaged his career: by posting a meme.

On December 25, Los Angeles Lakers basketball player LeBron James uploaded a meme to his Instagram account, depicting three Spidermen pointing fingers at one another to question whether they have Covid, the flu, or just a standard cold. Quickly, it was obvious that not everyone was a fan of the post — the team's former legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, in particular, was highly critical about the humorous attempt. Although James himself is in fact vaccinated, Abdul-Jabbar argued that James "encouraged vaccine hesitancy which puts lives and livelihoods at risk" in a lengthy blog post titled, "Dear LeBron: Here's the COVID-19 Help You Requested in Your Spider-Man Meme."

"The meme's implication is that LeBron doesn't understand the difference among these three illnesses, even after all the information that's been presented in the press," wrote Abdul-Jabbar, calling the post "a blow to his worthy legacy." He continued, "With 106 million Instagram followers, making such a post is automatically politically impactful because he questions the validity of the efforts to get the country vaccinated. As is evident by some of the comments that cheer LeBron's post, he's given support to those not getting vaccinated, which makes the situation for all of us worse by postponing our health and economic recovery."

As of this writing, James has not responded to Abdul-Jabbar's criticism.