LeBron James Snubbed From All-Time NBA Player Top 5 Lists

LeBron James is widely considered to be either the No. 1 or No. 2 greatest NBA player in history.

The Los Angeles Lakers forward has been playing at a dominant level for more than 20 years. He's won four championships and made countless All-Star Games and All-NBA teams. LeBron is often ranked No. 1 or No. 2, right behind Michael Jordan, on the all-time lists.

But not everyone feels that way.

In fact, several former NBA greats have snubbed LeBron from their all-time top five player lists, with one reason coming to mind.

Former NBA players, like Tim Hardaway Sr., claim that LeBron doesn't have the killer instinct that some of the other all-time greats did, like Jordan or Kobe.

Hardaway Sr., along with some other former NBA greats, snubbed LeBron from their all-time lists.

LeBron gets snubbed by former NBA greats

Hardaway Sr., who is releasing a new book, "Killer Crossover," appeared on Fanduel's "Run It Back Show" with Chandler Parsons, Lou Williams, and Michelle Beadle.

He made it clear that he has snubbed LeBron.

"I tell you this, everybody's top five is different. And it's no disrespect to LeBron James. LeBron, I'm gonna tell you this, playing at 41 and doing what he's doing at 41 and flying around the court."

"And he's talking about how he was, you know, they made him the third option. He was a number two option, at times the number one option."

Hardaway Sr. is still a fan.

"So I mean what he has done, I mean, is very, very remarkable."

"But I mean, you got Michael, I still say Kobe, I still say Magic, you know, and I still say Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and then you know, then you go from there. You know, you got Hakeem Olajuwon, you got Shaquille O'Neal, you know, you can pick whoever you want."

But a lot of former NBA players don't have LeBron in their top fives all-time.

"But I think these guys who you were talking about, they go by championships, and they go by, you know, the killer tenacity that these guys had. Like Magic, Michael, Kareem, Kobe, they had killer instinct, you know, they came out, and they didn't let their team wielder them, they gave their team confidence."

"And I think at times, you know, LeBron, I love LeBron. I'm a LeBron fan, but at times he doesn't, you know, bring it the way we want him to bring it, you know, like James Harden. We want James Harden to bring it. We know what he can do. We want to see that."

LeBron has yet to decide if he'll return for the 2026-27 season.

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This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 8:00 PM.