Michael Jordan v LeBron James: Who is the NBA’s greatest player?
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A look at the careers of two of the greatest to ever grace the court
To many millennials, LeBron James is the greatest to evergrace a basketball court, but with the release of Netflix’s ten-partdocumentary ‘The Last Dance,’ could Michael Jordan’s on court career get therecognition it deserves?
After the recent announcement of the title of the Space Jamsequel, A New Legacy, LeBron takes over in Jordan’s role, the first time it’sbeen done.
But does this mean we’re beginning to see the start of thehandover for the G.O.A.T title within the NBA community? Here, we lay out thestats, achievements and influence each had contributing to the argument of whowas better. Michael Jordan, or LeBron James?
Achievements
Firstly, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the differencein eras here. Michael Jordan’s most successful spell of his career spannedacross twelve full seasons, and a few extra months during the 94/95 season.LeBron’s career is still ongoing, after being drafted as first pick into theNBA in 2003.
Former Pistons centre, and one-time bitter rival of MJ, BillLaimbeer had previously suggested Jordan couldn’t have led the 2015 ClevelandCavaliers side to the NBA Finals as LeBron did, with former Pistons point-guardIsiah Thomas claiming Jordan couldn’t be considered the G.O.A.T as he played ina less competitive era.
Laimbeer countered by saying today’s pace-and-space led NBAis soft in comparison to the 80s & 90s, where physicality dominated theplaybook.
Career achievements aren’t the be-all and end-all in thisdebate, but they help to show just how good each player has been throughouttheir respective careers.
Jordan’s rep sheet goes on and on, with six championships,six Finals MVP titles, five regular season MVP titles, 11 All-NBA teamappearances, nine All-Defensive team appearances, 14 All-Star appearances,three NBA All-Star MVP titles and 10 NBA scoring titles.
On the opposite side of the argument, you’ve got LeBronJames. The current Los Angeles Laker has three NBA championships to his namewith four regular season MVP titles and three Finals MVP awards. As well asthat, he’s got 16 NBA All-Star appearances with three All-Star MVP, 15 All-NBAteam appearances, six All-Defensive team appearances but only one NBA scoringtitle.
Career Statistics
We’ll break this down into two categories, as we look throughthe regular season stats and the post season playoff records too.
King James’ career is now in it’s 17th year this season, whichis already two seasons longer than Air Jordan’s and the 35-year-old forward hasno immediate plans to retire yet either.
LeBron has 1,198 regular season games to his name atpresent, averaging 27.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, 7.2 assists and 1.6 steals pergame. Jordan played in 1,072 career games, averaging an NBA record 30.1 pointsper game, following up with 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.3 steals.
Before missing the playoffs in his two final seasons with theWashington Wizards from 2001, Jordan had made the playoffs in every season he’dplayed. LeBron James failed to lead his Cleveland Cavaliers side to theplayoffs for their first two seasons, before making the Eastern Conferencesemi-finals in 2006.
Through his career, Jordan featured in 179 playoff games,and winning six championships in the process. He achieved two three-peats, winningchampionships in 90/91, 91/92 and 92/93 for the first, before winning again in95/96, 96/97 and 97/98.
Jordan still holds another NBA record average in the playofftoo, coming up again in the points per game category. His 33.4 average hasn’tbeen topped, with LeBron trailing by almost five points, averaging 28.9 pernight.
MJ also holds a better steals per game average, grabbing 2.1in comparison to LeBron’s 1.8. But that’s where Air Jordan’s dominance ends.King James averages 8.9 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 1 block per game, with Jordanpicking up 6.4 rebounds, 5.7 assists and less than one block per night.
It’s also worth considering that Jordan picked up his first title in his seventh season at the Bulls. That year’s Bull’s team featured a young Scottie Pippen, but it was hardly stacked in terms of talent.
LeBron didn’t grab his first ring until his ninth season inthe NBA, and his second campaign with the Miami Heat. He formed a ‘Big Three’alongside Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami, three superstars at the peak ofthe powers.
On-Court Influence
During his early career with the Chicago Bulls, MichaelJordan was at the spearhead of every attack. If Jordan was scoring, the Bullsweren’t necessarily winning because other options on court weren’t adding theircontributions. But if the Bulls weren’t scoring, they weren’t winning at all.
When this was noticed by then head coach Phil Jackson, playdidn’t always have to go through him, and while MJ didn’t like it at first, heaccepted it was best for the team’s success and adapted. It was one keyingredient for those six championships.
Meanwhile, with LeBron James, play always goes through him.Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily, he’s one of the last remaining physicalathletes the league has in an era where outside shooting dominates, but it’sgetting to that Jordan-era stage where dominating LeBron means you dominate histeam.
That style has received some criticism from current playerstoo, with Kevin Durant once claiming fellow ‘superstars’ don’t want to have tosacrifice their styles to fit in with James’ game, and there was a ‘toxicenvironment’ that followed LeBron through the media.
There’s always been a mutual respect between the pair, withLeBron even claiming “When you’re growing up and you’re seeing Michael Jordan,it’s almost like a god. So, I didn’t ever believe I could be Mike.”
LeBron has continually claimed he’s using Jordan as aninfluential figure to achieve great things, stating in an interview with SportsIllustrated in 2016: “My motivation is this ghost I’m chasing. The ghost playedin Chicago.”
Jordan’s former team-mate Scottie Pippen had said thatLeBron had the potential to become better than Jordan one day, and despitebeing ‘humbled’ by Pippen’s comments’ LeBron responded: “I’m not better thanJordan.”
With so many different ways to choose between the pair, who’syour pick for the greatest NBA player of all time?
All odds and markets are correct as of date ofpublication.
