Bird or LeBron? Recent ‘First Take’ Debate Goes Viral After Chris Russo’s Answer

Whenever Chris “Mad Dog” Russo appears on First Take with Stephen A. Smith, fireworks are always guaranteed—and that continued Wednesday morning.

Russo and Smith were debating who was the better player of all time: Larry Bird or LeBron James? Russo went with the unpopular answer of Bird.

“Peak of his career, I’ll take Bird,” Russo said. “If I’ve got a series to win for my life, I’ve got a year in his prime when he won the three straight MVPs, this is in the early-to- mid-80s, I’m taking this guy right there.”

“He was an assassin. He is a tremendous passer, one of the great shooters you ever saw in your life. Never missed free throws, always had the right persona for the games against the Lakers.”

Russo also claimed that Bird was the better playoff performer: “I never saw Bird, in a big series, come up small. Never. I saw LeBron do it.”

In all, that opinion did not go over well with the rest of Twitter.