A Large Majority Of NBA GM's Would Rather Start A Franchise With Anthony Davis Than LeBron James

(LINK TO POLL)

If you are surprised by this then there is really only one explanation. You are forgetting the single biggest hurdle that every great player inevitably faces. Time. Turns out, it actually waits for no man. So while LeBron James is, without question, the best and most valuable player that is currently playing in the NBA, all things being equal, Anthony Davis has 8 more years of basketball ahead of him. A player's age can add to his potential, especially when that age is 22 and that player has shown as much as Anthony Davis. LeBron may be better now, but he's also already surpassed what many consider his athletic prime. Davis, on the other hand, isn't all that much worse than LeBron is now, and has not even come relatively close to entering his prime. Add that to the fact that Davis is the single most sought after commodity in professional basketball, a versatile big man, and it's a wonder that this poll didn't come back in a unanimous decision. If you are starting a franchise tomorrow, and don't sign Anthony Davis above all others then prolonged success was not the deciding factor.

Let's not forget that LeBron James hasn't proven to be all that good of a piece to build around. Yeah, he has always been the best player on every team he has played on, but on teams that have been built around him he has just as many championships as Anthony Davis does. That's pretty much the biggest knock on LeBron James. He needs circumstances to be to his liking to succeed. That means the right players around, the right coach, and generally just the right amount of talent. More often than not, circumstances within a franchise are not ideal, so why take a player whose success is seemingly predicated upon such? That could very well change, but even if it does, it won't change until LeBron has already reached the downside of his career. I don't fault LeBron for constantly putting himself in the best possible position to win, but we are talking about this from a franchise standpoint. Why would you take the guy that's shown, on multiple occasions, that he puts himself above all, instead of the guy that just committed 5 years of his career to the team that drafted him? This isn't an opinion, it's a fact. Anthony Davis is more likely to retire a New Orleans Pelican than LeBron ever was to retire a Cleveland Cavalier. If you don't take that into consideration when you are building your franchise then you aren't doing your job.