LeBron James has already given the Lakers one of the biggest moments of their modern era. Yet when his place in franchise history is compared with the names who came before him, one part of his Los Angeles résumé continues to draw questions.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
That debate took an interesting turn when five-time Lakers champion Derek Fisher appeared on The Joint Venture Show with Lil Wayne and Craig Carton. A ranking of the greatest Lakers put Fisher in the top 10 and left LeBron outside it, setting up a question Fisher was quick to challenge.
Carton ranked Fisher 10th and placed LeBron outside his top 10. When asked about James, Carton said, “Overall, it’s fair. I just LeBron’s been here eight years, bro. Like he’s without a championship.” Fisher immediately pushed back: “No, he won the championship in 2020.” He then laid out a comparison with the NBA’s other recent champions to explain why he believed LeBron was being judged differently.
“Steph Curry is the only NBA player in the last eight seasons that has two NBA championships as a face of the team: 2022 and 2018. Nikola Jokic, 2023, one title. Kawhi Leonard, 2019, one title. 2021, Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis, one title. That’s because Durant was on the line. 2024 Boston Celtics. Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, one title. 2025 Oklahoma City Thunder, SGA, one title.” Fisher then asked, “So why are we acting like LeBron hasn’t done something? Because he has one title in the last eight years, just like everybody else on that list I just said, except for Steph Curry.”
Fisher’s point was not that LeBron’s Lakers tenure should automatically rank above every other great in franchise history. It was that the 2020 championship still counts when judging what James accomplished in Los Angeles. In Fisher’s view, treating LeBron as though he went without a title creates a different standard from the one used for other recent NBA stars.
The 2020 Lakers title remains different from every other championship because of where it was won. Twenty-two teams entered the Orlando bubble at Walt Disney World after a four-month shutdown, with no fans, no traditional travel and no true home-court advantage. Players also dealt with isolation, quarantine rules and separation from their families for much of the postseason. Every playoff contender, however, faced the same unusual environment.
That does not mean the criticism has disappeared. The lack of home-court advantage removed one of the NBA’s biggest built-in edges, while the long break gave veteran players extra recovery time. Daryl Morey went even further in 2025, saying that people around the league privately believed the championship did not “truly hold up as a genuine championship” and would always carry an asterisk.
But the Lakers did not enter Orlando as an ordinary team suddenly lifted by the unusual setting. They were already the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference before the shutdown and finished the postseason 16-5. They beat Portland, Houston and Denver 4-1 before defeating Miami 4-2 in the Finals. The Lakers never lost consecutive playoff games.
James also produced one of the strongest Finals performances of his Lakers tenure. He averaged 29.8 points, 11.8 rebounds and 8.5 assists against Miami while shooting 59.1% from the field. The Lakers won the series 4-2, and James was unanimously voted Finals MVP, earning all 11 votes. It was his fourth championship and fourth Finals MVP, and his first title with the Lakers.
That is where Fisher’s comparison becomes harder to ignore. Nikola Jokic won one championship with Denver in 2023. Giannis Antetokounmpo won one with Milwaukee in 2021. Kawhi Leonard won one with Toronto in 2019, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won one with Oklahoma City in 2025. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were the leading stars of Boston’s 2024 championship. None of those titles came with a formal asterisk in the NBA record.
There is also the context of what LeBron walked into in Los Angeles. The Lakers had missed the playoffs in each of the previous six seasons, going 27-55, 21-61, 17-65, 26-56 and 35-47 in the five seasons before his arrival. After signing with Los Angeles in 2018, James helped lead the franchise back into contention, and the Lakers went 52-19 before winning their 17th championship in 2020.
That does not make Carton’s ranking impossible to defend. The Lakers’ history is filled with players who spent much longer with the franchise and won multiple championships, including Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal and James Worthy. Carton’s list clearly puts heavy weight on longevity and championship volume. The disagreement is over whether that should outweigh what James accomplished during his time in Los Angeles.
Fisher’s argument ultimately leaves the debate in a more interesting place. LeBron may not have the same Lakers longevity or championship count as Kobe, Magic, Kareem or the other icons above him on Carton’s list. But if one championship is enough to define the recent legacies of Jokic, Giannis, Kawhi and SGA, then dismissing LeBron’s 2020 title creates a standard that deserves another look.