‘Set up to fail’: Kendrick Perkins makes the case for LeBron James as sports GOAT
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The GOAT conversation in basketball does not often come with new angles, but Kendrick Perkins found one on Tuesday. The ESPN analyst and former NBA champion made his case on First Take, and it started at the beginning of LeBron James’s life in the public eye.
Perkins argued the pressure James has carried, not just in the NBA but since his teenage years, is something no other athlete has ever been asked to absorb.
“There’s no other athlete in the history of sports that’s been under the amount of pressure like LeBron James since the age of 16. Not one other athlete was on the cover of Sports Illustrated labeled as the chosen one,” Perkins said on First Take.
Kendrick Perkins says LeBron James has had the most pressure over any athlete in sports history:
“There’s no other athlete in the history of sports that’s been under the amount of pressure like LeBron James since the age of 16. Not one other athlete was on the cover of sports… pic.twitter.com/o33hgMC21A
— NBA Courtside (@NBA__Courtside) May 5, 2026
He pushed the point further, specifically bringing Michael Jordan into the frame. “Not one other athlete came to the league with the expectations of Michael Jordan and has exceeded expectations. He was set up to fail,” Perkins continued.
At 41, James is in the middle of a second-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder, still leading a short-handed Lakers team without Luka Doncic. He put up 27 points Tuesday in a Game 1 loss, still in the middle of carrying a roster he was never supposed to be carrying alone at this stage.
Perkins tied it all together. “When it comes down to longevity and pressure, there’s no other athlete ever in sports that was under that amount of pressure. This is why he’s the GOAT,” he said.
James has won four championships with three different franchises and leads the NBA in all-time scoring. Perkins’s argument is not purely about hardware, though. It is about what James was asked to be before he ever played a professional game.
Whether the GOAT debate ends here or keeps running is one thing. What is harder to dismiss is the 25-year weight James has been carrying without setting it down.
