One of the best debates in all of sports is who is the GOAT of basketball. Many say that Jordan’s dominance solidifies him as the best, while others argue that Lebrons longevity makes him the greatest. But what truly makes the greatest player? For the purpose of this article, we will go off 6 things. Points, NBA Finals appearances, NBA Finals wins, career length, opponents, and career peaks. These category’s will all be worth one point and whoever takes more categories will be declared as the greatest.
Points
When talking about who is the best NBA player ever, you have to look at points. Michael Jordan averaged 30.1 ppg (Points Per Game) while Lebron James averaged 27.1 ppg. While this looks like a win for Jordan, you also must look at how many points they scored throughout their entire careers. Jordan managed to score 32,292 points, which is absolutely insane. However, Lebron James is the all-time leading scorer in the NBA having scored 40,474 points. This is a number that no other player has even come close to with the second highest scorer ever Kareem Abdul-Jabbar having over 2,000 points less than Lebron. Although, I see Lebrons career points as more of a testament to his longevity than his actual scoring ability. Therefore, I’ve decided that for points, Michael Jordan is the winner.
NBA Final Appearances
Next up, we have NBA finals appearances. Lebron has appeared in 10 NBA finals, compared to Jordan who has only appeared in 6. That being said, Jordan won all 6 of his while Lebron only won 4 of his. Even though Jordan dominated in the finals, I’m still going to give Lebron the point for the same reason I gave Jordan the point last time. Jordan NBA finals wins don’t really matter when we are talking about just appearances. For that reason, Lebron James is the winner.
NBA Final Wins
The NBA Finals wins is a category that is hard to argue for Lebron. Michael Jordan managed to never lose a NBA final, while Lebron has lost 6. Jordan truly is just in a league of his own when it comes to finals and while I think that Lebron had a tougher time in those finals, it would still be unfair to disregard Jordan complete dominance in NBA finals. For those reasons Michael Jordan is the winner.
Career Length
Next up is career length, which Lebron completely dominates. This is one of the only things you can’t really debate when it comes to this debate. Lebron has the second longest career ever and in that time he made it to 10 NBA finals, scored over 40,000 points, and was able to stay in the league long enough to play on the same team as his son. To have a career like Lebrons, you would have to play 21 years of basketball without the sharp decline in skill that happens to almost all players at the end of their careers. When it comes to longevity you can’t argue against Lebron. For those reasons the winner is Lebron James.
Oponnents
Next up is one of the more controversial topics when it comes to this debate. Whose opponents were better? For me though, this is obviously Lebron. Although Jordan had to compete with players like Magic, Bird, Kobe, and Shaq, which sounds scary, you have to realize that Lebron had to play the greatest team in NBA history, and he won. If you don’t know what team I’m referring to, it’s the 2016 Golden State Warriors. This team has Steph Curry (the greatest point guard ever), Kevin Durant (a top 3 scorer ever), Klay Thompson (one of the greatest 3 points shooter ever), Draymond Green (an amazing defensive player), and Andre Iguodala (another amazing 3 point shooter). This team was the definition of dominance. They started the season going 24-0, the greatest regular season in the history of basketball. However, Lebron was able to come back from 3-1 in the finals and win, which had never been done before. So this point just has to go to Lebron James.
Career Peaks
Finally we have career highs. Who at their peak was a better player? This category is by far the hardest to decide. This is because while Jordan averaged more points per game, Lebron was able to come back from one of the worst spots in NBA history. To determine who wins this category I won’t only be looking at career highs for point per game, but also career highs for blocks, assists, and rebounds. Let’s start off with blocks. Jordan Has a career high of 6 blocks in a single game, while Lebrons career high is only 5. For assists Jordans has a career high of 17 assists in one game, while Lebrons career high is 18 assists in one game. Finally, Jordan managed to get 18 rebounds in one game an incredible amount of rebounds, however Lebron managed to get 20 rebounds in one game. Like I said before, just by looking at stats, it’s hard to tell you is better. Even though Jordan is overall a better offensive player, I think it’s hard to say that Lebron isn’t a better teammate. So for this category I have to give it to Lebron by a slim margin.
Results
Overall, Lebron took 4 of the categories while Jordan only took 2. So for the greatest basketball player ever, I would personally say that Lebrons’ the better player. Even though Lebron is a better player, I would still say that Jordan has an edge. Lebron, however, was able to take the Clevland Cavaliers to multiple NBA finals without a strong team and I think that shows that Lebron was the reason they got to the finals. Jordan did have some great players on his team such as Scottie Pippen and Denis Rodman. I think that Lebron had a harder league and less help. For these reasons I think it’s clear to see that Lebron truly is the G.O.A.T.
