For many years, the LeBron James and Michael Jordan GOAT debate has been prominent. There are many views on who is better, and both sides have convincing arguments. Michael Jordan has won 6 NBA championships, and has not been defeated in the NBA Finals, or whenever he was in a Game 7 situation. As for LeBron, he has won 4 championships, two with the Miami Heat, one with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and one with the Los Angeles Lakers.
To be honest with you, I’ve been debating with myself on who is really the better player, and my friends’ opinions didn’t really help me narrow down the choice. Let’s just look at career stats. For player A, he averaged 27.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.5 steals in 1,409 games. For player B, he averaged 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 2.3 steals per game. Player A would be LeBron James, and player B would be Jordan. To be honest, both players look amazing on paper, but in my opinion, I’d give the slight edge to Jordan, statistically.
That may be controversial, but hey, that’s okay. Sports media is all about controversy, so I’m here for it. Anyway, like I did mention championships, let’s run over that again. LeBron has been to 10 NBA finals, winning four. As for Jordan, he has went 6-0 in the NBA Finals, having two three-peats. One thing to mention is LeBron has went to eight NBA Finals in a row, from 2011 in Miami to 2018 in Cleveland.
Some might give the edge to Jordan for being undefeated and having more wins in the NBA Finals, and that’s fair. But to me, going to eight straight and only having two less rings is very important. And what’s to say LeBron won’t make the NBA Finals again? And for that, I’ll give the edge to LeBron here.
With those two out of the way, I’ll go individually and write down some reasons on why people think Jordan is the GOAT, and why people think LeBron is the goat. At the end of all of that, I will give my final take, and let you all know who I think the real GOAT is.
With all of that said, here is why MJ is considered the greatest to play.
Pictured here is Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Hornets and Chicago Bulls legend. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
MJ’s GOAT case
Like I did mention, MJ’s stats do have a bit better look to them. He has also made the All-Star team 14 times in 15 years, and if he played more games in the 1994-95 season, he could’ve made it then. He also would’ve made more appearances if he didn’t retire twice in the midst of his prime.
Also, he was a tremendous defender, winning DPOY as a guard, and making an All-Defensive team 9 times. He also was the NBA’s scoring leader 10 times. In his rookie season, he was already on the All-NBA’s second team.
His PER is the highest of all time for a career, at a 27.9. The amount of stats for MJ’s GOAT debate is lengthy, so long that I probably couldn’t list every single stat. For the sake of the article, those were the main stats, and I’ll keep it at that.
Jordan also was a legend off the court, having one of the league’s best worth ethics. His desire to win was also literally insane. One time, Jordan lost a game of ping-pong to former NBA player Christian Laettner. That may not sound awful, but to Jordan, it was. He spent a few days practicing table tennis, just so he could rematch Laettner in another game after, because he wanted to win against him that badly. Another time, Jordan cheated in a game of cards against his own mother.
With all of that said, let’s look at the reasons against Jordan. First off, he only played 15 seasons, which is a lengthy NBA career. However, he played minor league baseball for one year in 1994. Also, he retired for three seasons, right after his second three-peat with the Bulls. Also, Jordan had a serious gambling problem. This addiction was so problematic that he had to pay his ex-wife $168 million dollars after their divorce. The reason for their divorce was because of his gambling issues.
To be honest, the only problem with his basketball game is that he really wasn’t a distance shooter. Sure, his mid-range shot was literally one of the NBA’s best of all time, but he never could really shoot the 3-point shot. There is also the factor that the NBA was not really focused on the 3-point shot, so he didn’t shoot a lot of them. But, he was in the 3-point contest once, and he scored five points in total, one of the NBA’s lowest scores of all time in the 3-point shootout.
Now, with Jordan’s case aside, I’ll go over LeBron’s GOAT debate.
LeBron’s GOAT case
The picture above this text is the famous block in the 2016 NBA Finals. This NBA Finals moment was arguably the greatest moment of LeBron’s career, saving his Cleveland Cavaliers from losing the NBA Finals. He led his squad from down 3-1 to winning three games straight, winning the Larry O’Brien trophy. To me, and to some of my friends, this is the most impressive NBA championship of all time.
Let’s consider a few things. The Warriors went 73-9 in the regular season, the best record of all time. They had the unanimous MVP in Stephen Curry. The Warriors had three All-Stars in Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson. Golden State also had one of the league’s best coaches of all time in Steve Kerr, and everything looked like the Warriors would win it all. However, LeBron and his team overcame all odds, and was able to bring a title home to Cleveland.
Also, one of the main reasons LeBron fans say he’s the GOAT is his longevity. LeBron has been playing since 2003, and is still playing like a top 5 NBA player right now. Statistically, LeBron is having a better season than his 2012-13 MVP season, posting better points, assists, and rebounds per game.
Personally, I think LeBron could seriously play until he is 43 years old, maybe even older. Considering he is still one of the NBA’s best players at 38 years old, what’s to say he won’t pull a Tom Brady and play till he’s 45?
Also, LeBron has been one of the NBA’s brightest stars, even while the NBA’s focus has shifted towards 3-point shooting. His interior presence when it comes to scoring is still elite, taking a lot of his shots within a few feet of the rim. Also, at the time of writing this article, Mr. James just passed the all-time scoring mark.
Now, let’s look at the sides against James. The 2011 Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat in 6 games in the NBA Finals, even though the Heat had on paper, 3 out of the 4 best players in the series. Also, he’s lost a good amount of NBA Finals, 6 to be exact. And besides the one championship season for the Lakers, his team has been underachieving.