During the 1980s, the Los Angeles Lakers enjoyed a golden era, dominating the NBA and collecting several championships. That team featured elite stars who left a lasting mark on league history—James Worthy among them. Now retired, the forward has picked who he believes is the best player in NBA history.

“I played with Kareem, who I think is the greatest player to ever play the game,” Worthy said during a 2019 interview with Uninterrupted. He was teammates with Abdul-Jabbar for seven seasons, from his arrival in the Lakers in 1982 until the center’s retirement in 1989.

“To me, Kareem (is the GOAT). Not too many people won three national championships in college and held the (scoring) record for 39 years without shooting a three. People say, ‘He wasn’t athletic. Blah Blah.’ Kareem and Wilt (Chamberlain) were extremely athletic,” James said during a 2024 appearance on Byron Scott’s Fast Break.

“The discipline, the yoga, the meditation,” Worthy listed as some of the things that helped Abdul-Jabbar remain at basketball’s elite level. “Kareem went through a few decades, you know… Nate Thurman, to this day Kareem says he was the best defensive player ever. Then he goes through Patrick Ewing and (Hakeem) Olajuwon and keeps moving. So, he went through five decades of some of the best centers and survived till the end. So, say what you want, but he gets my vote.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the greatest NBA player of all time, according to James Worthy.

Speaking about the personality of his former Lakers teammate, the three-time NBA champion shared with the New York Times in 2022: “Most people wouldn’t mess with Kareem. You could prank him now and then, but man, he was gonna get redemption. It’s hard to get Kareem to open up. But if you talk about history or jazz, you’ve got him. And you’ve got him for a long time.”

Worthy calls out younger fans who never saw Kareem play

In that same conversation with Byron Scott, Worthy addressed the GOAT debate and how some people overlook Abdul-Jabbar’s accomplishments. “How you gonna say whose the greatest without seeing Kareem’s full body of work?” the forward began.

“How you gonna say, ‘It’s Michael (Jordan).’ Because you were born in 1995? Or ’80, still you haven’t seen people’s full bodywork,” James added. “People who hadn’t seen Kareem, they need to stay out of the question here unless you have seen all that.”

Michael Jordan’s greatness, according to Worthy

Before being selected by the Lakers with the first overall pick in the 1982 NBA Draft, James Worthy spent three years playing at the University of North Carolina. There, he was teammates with Michael Jordan, giving him a firsthand look at someone who would become one of the sport’s global icons.

“I was better than him… for about three weeks,” Worthy told Byron Scott. “And I enjoyed those three weeks, ’cause I saw something in that boy that he didn’t have it quite yet. He was learning. But he would seek out the best in everything: chess, backgammon. And if he lost, he was irately made like he just lost a Game 7.”

The Lakers legend, however, realized early on that MJ was destined for greatness in the NBA. “I knew he was going to be an All-Star, but I didn’t know he was going to be, possibly, the best player ever,” he told AAC Digital Network in 2017.

James Worthy and Michael Jordan on March 31, 2009 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Worthy’s favorite player

While Worthy considers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar the greatest of all time—and even puts Michael Jordan in a similar category—he chose another superstar as his personal favorite in a 2019 interview with Uninterrupted. “If I had to choose one player, I would choose Magic,” James said about Johnson.

“He enhances everybody three times more than you could ever. He wills stuff, he wills games. When he has to perform, he’s done it. He’s a winner. When you need that guy that can will stuff, that’s what he does. That’s why I would choose him,” explained Worthy, who played alongside Magic for 10 seasons.

Worthy highlights two current stars in the GOAT debate

Worthy clearly holds deep respect for the players from his era, but he’s not stuck in the past. In fact, he’s mentioned two current stars as serious contenders in the GOAT debate: Kevin Durant and LeBron James.

“If you’re talking like top seven guys who can be the greatest of all time, he’s in there, in my opinion,” Worthy said of Durant in a 2024 interview with ClutchPoints. “He’s just a phenomenal player who has impacted the game in ways few others have.”

As for LeBron, he spoke to All The Smoke in 2023: “His ability to will reminds me of Magic. You’re comfortable with him on the floor because you know something is going to happen good. An assist guy, scorer. So, I like his body of work and obviously he’ll be mentioned in the top three or four.”

The career of James Worthy

After being selected with the first overall pick of the 1982 NBA Draft, James Worthy became a key piece of the Showtime Lakers, who dominated the league in the 1980s and played out unforgettable rivalries with Larry Bird’s Boston Celtics. Over his 12-year professional career, the forward won three titles (1985, 1987, and 1988) and played in four other NBA Finals.

Worthy’s talent and winning mentality also earned him individual recognition. He was the Finals MVP in 1988, a seven-time consecutive All-Star, named to both the 50th and 75th NBA Anniversary Teams, inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003, and had his No. 42 jersey retired by the Lakers.