In an interview with djvlad on YouTube uploaded on Monday, Gilbert Arenas discussed the early careers of Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James. He compared the games of the two greats, who were both part of the 2003 NBA Draft class.
Arenas went on to discuss the greatness of LeBron James and what made him different from Melo: (Start at 2:29)
"With LeBron, it's very different. He's all-purpose. Just like anything that's all-purpose, you can put different pieces and this person can adjust to it. So, if I pick say Carmelo, he's my primary scorer and now I have to figure out what's going to fit around him. With LeBron, I can get a Kobe, I can get a Carmelo, because [LeBron James] can differ because he has other skills he can use."
Arenas compared LeBron's versatility to polarizing rapper Kanye West and his diverse skill set in music. (Start at 3:16)
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"Just like in the music industry, a guy who is multi-talented, doing different things, you can never box him in. He can sing, he can rap, he can produce, he can write, right? He can play instruments. He's d**n-near a god in that sense. He's not stuck, you can't stick him with something. Because even though you cancel Kanye's music, he can go write for somebody else, he can go produce for somebody else."
LeBron's versatility is undeniable. Even going on 40 years old, James remains arguably the best all-around player in the NBA. He posted 25.7 points, 8.3 assists and 7.3 rebounds while shooting a career-high 41 percent from behind the arc in his 21st NBA season.
LeBron James leading Team USA at almost 40 years old
To compliment what's been arguably the best career in NBA history, LeBron James has carried his domination into his fourth Olympic Games in Paris.
After skipping 2016 and 2020, LeBron James has returned to Team USA, where he has led them to a perfect record through the exhibition matchups. They also won their first Olympic contest against Nikola Jokic and Serbia.
Through their five exhibition matchups, LeBron averaged a team-high 14.6 points and 3.8 assists to go along with four rebounds, shooting nearly 62 percent from the field.
In Team USA's first matchup, James scored 21 points while shooting 9-13 from the field, and led the team in assists (9) and rebounds (7).
James and Team USA will look ahead to their second matchup versus South Sudan.