Among all the eye-catching statements LeBron James made on “The Pat McAfee Show” this week, none were as controversial as his take on the 1970s NBA. 

The Los Angeles Lakers star openly mocked the quality of ’70s basketball, suggesting that Giannis Antetokounmpo would have scored 250 points had he played in the decade.

Many felt James’ comments were disrespectful to legendary scorers like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bob McAdoo, who won multiple scoring titles in the 1970s but never scored even 60 in a game, let alone 250 points.

On Friday, Antetokounmpo weighed in on James’ comments after the Milwaukee Bucks suffered a 116-107 loss to the New York Knicks. “The Greek Freak” said while he was flattered by James’ praise, he disagreed with the notion that ’70s basketball would have been child’s play for him.

“Great compliment, but I don’t like comparing eras,” Antetokounmpo told reporters. “It’s not fair. If I’d played in the ’70s, how everybody practiced and how everybody played, we would have played the same way.

That’s all you knew at the time. The game evolves. We got to 2020 and we know more. People shoot the ball from half court. It’s totally different, right? You can’t compare this era with that era.”

Antetokounmpo acknowledged that he would have likely played “the same way” as other conventional power forwards in the 1970s, meaning his production would have been significantly less.

In the modern NBA, hybrid forwards like Antetokounmpo have been given the license to control every possession, leading to triple-doubles and staggering numbers across the board.

However, in the 1970s, point guards were tasked with playmaking duties, with forwards operating out of the post and only catching the ball out of set actions.

James was likely being hyperbolic with his comments, but he still faced severe backlash for blatantly disrespecting stars of the ’70s.