If LeBron James is ‘today’s Muhammad Ali,’ then Lizzo is today’s Pam Grier

I was not a fan of LeBron James being selected as flag bearer for Team USA at the Paris Olympics. It bothered me for reasons beyond James’ history of kneeling during the national anthem in support of George Floyd and other career criminals who lost their lives resisting arrest.

I was bothered because I knew it would inevitably lead to someone comparing James to Muhammad Ali, who famously lit the torch at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.

Off the court, James is a complete and total fraud. Nothing could be more obvious.

Sure enough, my old friend Dan Le Batard stepped up and made the ridiculous comparison. On his popular podcast, the former ESPN and Miami Herald journalist called James “today’s Muhammad Ali.”

That’s a sad statement about “today” far more than it is praise of James. King James is not Muhammad Ali. I’ll explain after I share a bit of context.

A decade ago, as the editor in chief of ESPN’s the Undefeated, I devised a plan to examine LeBron James’ pursuit of a legacy that rivaled Muhammad Ali’s.

I surmised that in the aftermath of LeBron’s four-year, two-championship stint in Miami that James and Nike had changed their targets. They would no longer position James as the successor to Air Jordan’s throne. To sell sneakers at Michael Jordan’s level, LeBron needed a new historical narrative.

He pivoted to Muhammad Ali, the man regarded as “The Greatest” despite suffering five losses in the boxing ring. Ali’s courage and standing outside the ring rendered his losses to Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, Leon Spinks, Larry Holmes, and Trevor Berbick meaningless.

If LeBron could strengthen his profile as an activist, he could erase the stench of his poorly executed 2010 exit from Cleveland and the subsequent 2011 NBA Finals meltdown against the Dallas Mavericks. “The Decision” — James’ much-hyped and televised choice to take “his talents to South Beach” — and his embarrassing performance against Dirk Nowitzki and the Mavs did severe damage to James’ brand. They made it impossible for the chosen one to rival Jordan as a competitor, performer, or sneaker pitchman.

Rather than accept his plight, James and Nike chose to scale a larger mountain: Muhammad Ali.

The pivot began in 2011, when James and Nike began formulating plans for the “I Promise School” in Akron, a school for disadvantaged kids with unstable home environments. James’ foundation financed a small percentage of the school while receiving a much larger percentage of the credit for launching it.

In early 2012, James and Nike unveiled the second step in LeBron’s rebranding. James dipped his toe into activism, leading his Miami Heat teammates into donning hoodies in support of Trayvon Martin, the black Florida teen who was shot and killed after pounding George Zimmerman’s head into the ground.

By 2017, James was a full-blown social justice warrior. He claimed that vandals spray-painted the N-word on the back gate of his $20 million mansion in Brentwood, California. He provided no proof. His servants removed the graffiti before police could investigate, before James could return to California and see it for himself. James used the alleged incident to compare himself to the mother of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy who was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955.

James’ servants removed the alleged graffiti within hours. Emmett Till’s mother lost her teenage son. It’s difficult for me to follow the analogy.

It’s equally difficult for me to believe that anyone in 2024 thinks LeBron James is the modern-day Muhammad Ali.

He’s not. Off the court, James is a complete and total fraud. Nothing could be more obvious.

James is a great basketball player. He’s one of the five or six best players of all time. I rank him below Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. I never saw Bill Russell play, but I’m open to the possibility that Russell was better than James.

As it relates to athletes and off-the-field importance, James isn’t on the same planet as Ali, Jim Brown, Arthur Ashe, Bill Bradley, Jack Kemp, or Joe Louis.

James is the antithesis of Ali. As an activist, James faces zero resistance. He’s never been challenged to defend his unsophisticated political opinions against a journalistic adversary. Ali engaged with and confronted his adversaries on college campuses, during televised interviews, and even in his relationship with Howard Cosell.

James ducks resistance. He and Klutch Sports represent and finance members of the media who defend James at every turn.

Ali was connected to a religious sect, the Nation of Islam, and was counseled by Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad. James has no discernible religious faith or affiliation. He’s counseled by a cadre of agents and handlers.

Ali competed in the sport that is the ultimate test of masculinity. James has popularized flopping in a sport that has been stripped of its masculinity. Ali risked imprisonment over his religious convictions when he refused induction into the military draft. James has risked nothing.

James is an inauthentic brand, a man who does the bidding of a global apparel company. Ali epitomized authenticity, a man who believed his actions would truly inspire and uplift black Americans.

In 1996, when Ali lit the Olympic torch in Atlanta, it symbolized the end of Ali’s feud with America. It was a negotiated peace settlement between adversaries.

LeBron James carrying the Team USA flag at this year’s Olympics symbolized that sellouts rule in a country run by sellouts.