Lakers News: Was LeBron James Underrated in ESPN List of Top 100 21st Century Athletes?

Where was LeBron ranked?

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James came in fourth on ESPN's list of the top 100 athletes of the 21st century. Only swimmer Michael Phelps, tennis player Serena Williams, and soccer forward Lionel Messi ranked ahead of James.

All four are considered by many to be the best ever in their sport, though many still consider Michael Jordan better than James all-time.

James is certainly deserving of the recognition he's gotten over his career as one of the best to ever do it. James is a four-time NBA champion, four-time NBA MVP, two-time Olympic Gold medalist and 20-time All-Star. James has averaged 27.1 points per game over his 21-year career, on his way to becoming the all-time leading NBA scorer and the lone NBA player in history to surpass 40,000 points. His accomplishments have been so great that James was even named the AP Male Athlete of the Decade for the 2000s.

Still, the other three athletes ranked higher than James are also incredible and deserve their ranking.

Messi is one of the greatest soccer players of all time. He is a World Cup champion, and is a two-time Copa America champion. In the UEFA Champions League, Messi led the league in scoring six times, and is second on the team's all-time goals list. He is the all-time leading scorer in La Liga. He won the FIFA Ballon d'Or four times, and the FIFA men's player of the year three times.

Ahead of Messi is Williams, who is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Williams won 23 career grand slams, which is second-most all-time in the open era. She finished a year as the Women's Tennis Association's No. 1 player five different times, and also is a four-time Olympic gold medalist.

Finally, Phelps finished the list in first as one of the greatest swimmers and Olympians of all time. Phelps holds the record for the most Olympic medals and most Olympic gold medals of any athlete in the events history. He also won the most medals in a single Olympics during his performance at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. He is easily the most dominant Olympian of all time, and was also named Swimming World's World Swimmer of the Year eight separate times. To top it off, Phelps set a record of 39 records throughout his career.

Overall, there was a valid case to rank James higher than No. 4 overall, but the athletes ahead of him have also earned their place on the list.

More Lakers: Bronny James Talks Prospect of Being Teammates with His Dad