On Thursday evening, LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers took on Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns in a marquee early-season matchup. James and Durant have oddly not played one another in five years due to various injuries and other circumstances, leading to some heavy anticipation from both Lakers and Suns fans heading into the matchup.

Prior to the game, Durant himself had some lofty praise for James, his long-time adversary.

“I'm looking forward to hooping against arguably the best ever,” said Durant, per the NBA's official account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

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LeBron James and Kevin Durant have squared off in several different postseasons throughout their respective illustrious NBA careers. The first such meeting occurred in 2012, when James' Miami Heat defeated Durant's Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals. Durant would then exact revenge on James in 2017 and 2018 when the Golden State Warriors knocked off the Cleveland Cavaliers in consecutive NBA Finals.

Durant is not the only one who thinks that James has made a case as the greatest player of all time during his NBA career. The Kid from Akron has won four championships, four MVPs, and also recently became the NBA's all-time leading scorer, in addition to several other accolades over his 20-plus seasons since being drafted first overall in 2003.

The matchups that James and Durant have had with one another over the years seem to have only increased the mutual respect between two of the greatest players the game has ever seen.