Tom Brady praises LeBron James as ‘the greatest ever’ while appearing together on Fanatics Fest panel
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Tom Brady praises LeBron James as ‘the greatest ever’ while appearing together on Fanatics Fest panel
LeBron James, Tom Brady and Victor Wembanyama were on stage at Fanatics Fest in New York on Saturday. Brady said James is the greatest of all time. James joked that he might retire sooner than planned due to a player option. The panel was part of James’ talk show, “The Shop: Uninterrupted,” which airs on Uninterrupted.com and airs on Sundays at 8 p.m. ET. The event was held at the SoHo Hotel in the Meatpacking District of New York City, which is also home to the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets, among other sports teams. It was James’ first appearance at the festival.
Brady provided a quote to remember in praising James for his career achievements, particularly notable coming from the quarterback many consider the greatest in NFL history with seven Super Bowl championships. But to Brady, LeBron is the greatest of all time.
“With the intensity that’s been on him, the Olympics, the different teams that he’s been on, he’s always done things the right way,” Brady said, via a video clip by Anthony Rivardo. “He’s always risen above all the noise and B.S. and continued to deliver.”
“So you’re witnessing the greatest ever and I hope you guys all appreciate that.”
James is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, winning four NBA championships (and playing in 10 NBA Finals), four NBA MVP awards and three Olympic gold medals.
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But as Brady pointed out, James has faced a level of scrutiny during his career that might be unmatched, going back to him entering the NBA as an 18-year-old straight out of high school, while also enduring criticism for how he left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat by announcing the decision on ESPN.
Paul Rivera, Victor Wembanyama, LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Tom Brady and Kai Cenat appeared onstage at Fanatics Fest NYC 2025 on June 21, 2025. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images) (Slaven Vlasic via Getty Images)
“The Shop” was always intended to feature unfiltered discussion from sports stars, emulating the conversations that would take place in a barber shop. Saturday’s panel did not disappoint in that regard, featuring several memorable sound bites in addition to Brady’s praise of James.
Brady said that visiting New York always means taking jabs from New York Giants fans about the two Super Bowls that he lost to the team with the New England Patriots.
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“How does it feel to be Eli Manning’s son?” he said a Giants fan asked him while the two appeared at Fanatics Fest on Friday.
James was asked how much longer he would play before retiring. The Los Angeles Lakers star has a $52 million player option for next season and can then become a free agent. After joking that Brady played football until he was 59 years old, James then said that Wembanyama — who led the NBA with an average of 3.8 blocks per game — might end up pushing him into retirement sooner than planned.
“I can’t play that much further,” James said. “And the more and more time that I play, as long as he keeps smacking my shots into the f***ing stands, he’s gonna make me retire.”
The 21-year-old Wembanyama then responded that James might retire after him. The San Antonio Spurs center recently finished his second NBA season, which was cut short with two months to play due to a blood clot in his right shoulder.