Longevity Causes Basketball Legend To Flip Vote On LeBron-Jordan Debate

Shandel Richardson | Mar 17, 2025

Jul 5, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Cheryl Miller attends the WNBA game between the Las Vegas Aces and the LA Sparks at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

At 40, LeBron James is one of the NBA's top 10 players.

The fact he has dominated the game for so long has caused basketball great Cheryl Miller to change her mind in the greatest player debate. During a recent appearance on the All The Smoke podcast, she was asked to name her top three in order.

She first answered Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

Then she began considering James' longevity.

"When you look at LeBron, LeBron in my opinion, is the greatest, phenomenal specimen of an athlete," Miller said. "I don't know if we'll ever see a physical marvel of someone of his magnitude. You gotta take that and then longevity."

By the end of the interview, Miller changed her mind completely.

"Okay, LeBron, MJ, Kobe," Miller said. "From longevity, he is still ballin."

LOOKING BACK AT KNICKS VS PACERS

The New York Knicks and Indiana Pacers had one of the most fierce rivalries in NBA history during the 1990s.

They met six times in the playoffs in the decade, providing some legendary moments. These series were so intense that winning wasn't enough. They wanted to physically harm each other because things were so heated.

Former Pacers forward Antonio Brown said they wanted to defeat every opponent but it was more when facing the Knicks.

"I just wanted to be the [Chicago] Bulls but the Knicks, I wanted to fight those dudes," Davis told Back In The Hoops On SI. "I didn't care about winning, losing. I just wanted to fight them. I just wanted to beat their heads in."

The rivalry, which featured stars Reggie Miller, Patrick Ewing, John Starks and Detlef Schrempf, started with the Knicks eliminating the Pacers in the first round of the 1993 playoffs. The Knicks won again the following year in seven games in the Eastern Conference finals. The rivalry reached new heights when the Pacers broke through by winning in seven games in the 1995 conference semifinals. The series featured Miller's infamous eight points in nine seconds in Game 1.

"Those were some crazy battles," Davis said. "Those guys were the epitome of playing tough and playing together and having each other's backs. It was crazy to be in that situation where it was like the mecca of basketball coming to the Midwest playing the little Pacers."

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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