LeBron James is the NBA's all-time leading scorer. He's a four-time champion and four-time MVP. He just finished the greatest age-38 season in league history and will no doubt own the best 39-year-old season ever once 2023-24 comes to a close. Even if you don't think he's basketball's true GOAT, there's no arguing the Los Angeles Lakers superstar is among just three or four players with a legitimate claim to that distinction.
No matter what James has done in the past or will do before his illustrious career is finished, though, he won't be able to match this unbelievable feat by Skylar Diggins-Smith. On Thursday's special edition of The Shop during Amazon's broadcast of Thursday Night Football between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos, Diggins-Smith told James and fellow guest Kevin Hart that she twice led the WNBA in minutes while pregnant.
Hart's perfectly timed response, while looking straight in the eyes of a slack-jawed James?
“What are you doin'?” he asked.
Skylar Diggins-Smith played a whole season while pregnant and Kevin Hart’s reaction is priceless 😂#WNBA #WNBATwitter #MorethanGame pic.twitter.com/IUbZjCzv26
— WNBA Got Game (@wnbagotgame) October 13, 2023
Even Lakers' LeBron James can't touch this Skylar Diggins-Smith feat
Diggins-Smith averaged 17.9 points, 3.3 rebounds and 6.2 assists with the Dallas Stars in 2018, leading the league with 34.1 minutes per while pregnant with her first child. Four years later, she again led the WNBA with 34.0 minutes per game, also averaging 19.7 points, 4.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists en route to her sixth All-Star appearance—once again while carrying a child.
James has definitely never done that.
Diggins-Smith spent the 2023 season on maternity leave after the birth of her second child last spring. She grew crossways with the Mercury while taking time away, publicly chastising the organization for its refusal to let her use practice facilities and team services as she worked to get back into basketball shape.
“It was all good when I was leaving for personal time!!,” Diggins-Smith tweeted in early August. “But when I’m leaving bc I was having complications and scared of risking my child….while leading the league in minutes (pregnant). Trade her?”
Diggins-Smith is a free agent heading into next season, surely ready to continue her career somewhere other than Phoenix. LeBron James, meanwhile, is about to embark on his 21st season in the NBA, ready to make more age-lreated history while striving for a fifth title with Los Angeles. Even if the Lakers accomplish that goal, though, even James would have to admit it still wouldn't compare Diggins-Smith's pregnancy feats.
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