LeBron James might have one of the deepest 'bags' in NBA history

Lately, much has been made of this thing we call a "bag." It’s the term for an NBA player’s arsenal — how shifty their handle is, how smooth their stepback looks or how many counters they’ve got when the first move gets walled off. 

But somehow, someway, the basketball internet has decided that LeBron James — the man with four championships, four MVPs, four Finals MVPS and a scoring record that might outlive us all — doesn’t have a bag. 

The debate got so loud that the King himself addressed it on his "Mind the Game" podcast, essentially saying that he may not be a guy with a ton of shifty moves, but he's not sitting at the top of the mountain as the all-time leading scorer because his bag is empty, either. If having a bag means putting defenders on skates with no actual impact on the scoreboard, then sure, James doesn’t have that.

But the same people hyping up Paul George’s handle and shot creation are the ones forgetting he’s still trying to live down the "Playoff P" nickname, and James Harden has earned a reputation as a professional choke artist in the playoffs.

Respectfully, if James doesn’t have a bag, perhaps the definition itself needs a rebrand.

The most recent comments have come from James' peers and a former teammate. On "Gil’s Arena," Gilbert Arenas’ podcast, he and a rotating crew of former hoopers broke it down in typical barbershop fashion — some defending James' greatness, others conceding that "he might not have a bag, but he doesn’t need one." 

That sounds nice until you realize how reductive it is. Imagine telling the all-time leading scorer in NBA history that he’s just efficient and not skilled. That kind of take makes it seem like the concept is less about production and more about highlight-reel aesthetics. 

Even Ray Allen's definition, where he responded to the criticism and defined a bag as having a go-to move, doesn't quite land. Based on that definition, Shaquille O'Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would have bags. But that doesn't hold up when you consider that almost everyone universally agrees that Kyrie Irving has a bag, and it's because he has a plethora of moves and can score from everywhere on the court.

That then eliminates Shaq and Kareem, two iconic players in history, because neither of them has a versatile game. Somehow, that doesn't count against them, but that's because the entire conversation is confused. Is a bag a go-to move, or having a lot of moves?

The truth is, it can be either one depending on the player's effect on the game. James' bag allows him to seamlessly shift between styles — bully-ball, finesse, facilitator, anchor — all depending on the moment. No other player in modern basketball has been asked to wear as many hats. And he’s made every one of them fit. 

We’ve seen James play like Michael Jordan, willing himself to a win with sheer force. We’ve seen him pass like Magic Johnson, manipulating defenses with no-look lasers. He has crashed the boards like Charles Barkley, and still somehow guards one through five like he’s built in a lab. The man is a Swiss Army knife in sneakers. If that’s not a bag, what are we even talking about? James' bag isn’t stepbacks, it’s chess moves.