Former Detroit Pistons star and Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas believes LeBron James is the “best” player in NBA history.

“I think when you look at, like I say, he’s touched and he leads in almost every statistical category,” Thomas told Kory Woods of MLive. “He’s passed Kareem in scoring. I think he’s got the most playoff points. Not only that, when you look at the assist column, I know where I stand on the assist record. I think he’s passed me; I think he’s passed Magic on the assist record. I mean, so when you talk about passing, scoring, rebounding, we’ve never had a player in the NBA that has touched every statistical category and leads in some of these statistical categories that we’re talking about.

“There’s never been another player like him. Now, everyone has their favorites, but if the numbers don’t lie, the numbers don’t lie. And he definitely passes the eye test. So to me, he’s the best that I’ve ever seen from a team standpoint and also as a basketball player.”

The debate as to whether the Los Angeles Lakers star can oust Michael Jordan as the consensus greatest basketball player of all time reached a new peak last Saturday, when James claimed the third Olympic gold medal of his career following Team USA’s championship win over France at the 2024 Paris Games.

Thomas and Jordan were famously rivals amidst the tension between the Pistons and Chicago Bulls during the 1980’s.

Jordan reignited the rivalry by calling Thomas an “assh–e” during the 2020 docuseries The Last Dance, which covered the Bulls’ 1997 championship season. Thomas said as recently as March that his relationship with Jordan would not be repaired until he received an apology.

Thomas’ relationship with Jordan might have influenced his willingness to call the former Bulls star the GOAT, but James has certainly established himself as the most productive NBA player of all time.

James became the first player in NBA history to reach 40,000 career points in March. The milestone came just over one year after he became the league’s all-time leading scorer by surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career total of 38,387 points.

The Lakers star passed Magic Johnson for sixth place on the NBA’s all-time assists list in December 2022, then became the fourth player in NBA history to pass 11,000 assists in April. Only Chris Paul, Jason Kidd and John Stockton rank higher.

After entering the 2023-24 season as the NBA’s oldest player, James ranked top-15 in the league with 25.7 points per game.

That longevity and James’ three Olympic gold medals, one more than Jordan collected in his own storied career, are sure to make the GOAT debate even more contentious heading into James’ 22nd NBA season.