1. James VS. Jordan: Who is the G.O.A.T?
Number 23 dribbles down the court with little time remaining in the game down by 1. He sizes up his man, and takes a contested shot for the win…he somehow got the shot to go in! Everyone in attendance knows that they have just seen the greatest of all time make one of the many clutch shots in his career. But which number 23 is it? Lebron James and Michael Jordan are two of the best players to ever play the game of basketball. From two separate generations and two completely different styles of basketball, they are both easily the top two players of all time. Many people and basketball analysts have tried to argue for both sides about why either one of them is the best. I will look at several different stats and accomplishments over there long, illustrious careers, to see who really is the greatest basketball player of all time.
When one looks at the three most important stats in basketball — points, rebounds, and assists — you can see that there is very little separating these two players. Michael only played 15 seasons, while Lebron is in the midst of his 16th, so I will take the first 15 seasons of Lebron and Jordan’s careers. Over both of there careers, Lebron has averaged 27.05 points per game, while Jordan averaged 26.35 points per game, giving the slight edge to Lebron. When it comes to rebounds per game, Lebron averages 7.45 and Jordan averages 6.1 rebounds per game. Lebron wins that match up, due to the fact that he is physically bigger and stronger than Jordan, Lebron being 6'8" and Jordan being 6'6". Lebron averages 7 career assists per game and Michael averages 4.9 career assists. Lebron wins in all three main basketball stat categories.
Just based off of stats alone, Lebron should instantly be named the G.O.A.T, but there is another reason that Jordan is still in the conversation. Jordan has made it to the finals, 6 times and won all 6 of them. Lebron on the other hand, has been to 9 NBA Finals and has only won 3 of them. In my opinion, how many rings a player has doesn’t necessarily make them great, because winning a championship, is a team accomplishment. A stat that should matter to how great a player is, is how many MVP’s the player in question has. Jordan ended his career with 5 regular season MVP’s and Lebron has 4 regular season MVP’s, and he is still going for more today. I think that both players are the greatest in the sports history, but if I were to give a slight edge to someone, it would be Lebron James. He has played longer than Jordan, and has better career stats than MJ. If Lebron James can get one or two more MVP’s or Finals wins, he will undoubtedly be known as the G.O.A.T.
