Lebron James or Michael Jordan
Let’s get the opinions of real alpha males with the highest intellect on this topic. Which one is your goat and why?
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Lebron no question
MJ, because he's the GOAT. Anyone saying bron is a nephew and can be disregarded.
Bugging out
Michael Jordan. Please respond if you disagree and I'll prove you wrong.
I’d rather have a player that is amazing for 20+ years versus a player that is a little bit more amazing for 13 years. I think MJ is a better player, but if bron averages what he is averaging for another 3 years he is unquestionably the GOAT.
I completely agree that if LeBron keeps his pace for a few more years it won't even be an argument anymore(I don't think he will be able to). However, as of right now, MJ still stands. I would argue you're underselling MJ by claiming he's "a little bit more amazing" than LeBron. MJ held complete dominance over the NBA, whereas I haven't seen LeBron's reign to the extent MJ did.
Also, I appreciate MJ's game in a different way I do LeBron. LeBron has always struck me as physically dominant, but there's just something about the way MJ played that sets him apart. An intangible, if you will.
Tim Duncan
He’s a fantastic player but nowhere near MJ or LeBitch
be trippin
Mj all day
Jordan. LeFraud is a pussy
MJ, obviously.
LeMickey only has 3 real rings
Larry Bird
Bird's all around game is better than both.
Truly a Stephen A Smith take
Chris Russo take
Wilt Chamberlain
Larry bird if he didn’t have back issues
I never understand how people can be this delusional. You have someone who is way more dominant than Jordan, about to be the number one all time scoring leader, 4 chips complemented with 4 FMVP, never lost an all star (also an all star every year of his career), under the most pressure because of expectations of others, yet Michael bald headed dick licking Jordan is your goat? Please…..tell me when Jordan comes back from a 3-1 series in the finals against the best team to ever exist.
Jordan also failed to even make playoffs for so many years. Lebron has the best ring in nba history.
"Earned" them as in he had a better front office. Refresh my memory what Jordan's playoff record before they drafted Pippen? Also forgot Rodman was a homegrown talent? What about Kukoc, Kerr, grant, etc.? MJ didnt "earn" them in the same way Lebron didnt create "super teams". One had a superior front office that brought talent to him, the other had to go and get that talent himself.
jordan couldn't make the finals without pippen. Lebron did it with valdejao
half these dudes saying MJ just hate lebrons politics. That being said, MJ all day everyday.
Javale McGee
Neither. I think we're at the point in basketball history to where the game has aged so much that there's no consensus GOAT to pin down. That all being said, I think you have a GOAT-tier in the NBA, currently occupied the 3 GOATs at the 3 fundamental positions in the game.
G - MJ
F - bron
C - KAJ
Mj hands down
Sending MJ movies to educate the youth. DVDs I know every word to and have practiced every move around the basket back in the day.
URLs probably won’t be able to click into but I’ll give it a shot
1) Michael Jordan - His Airness
2) Michael Jordan - Airtime
https://youtu.be/_qvEmm-sZbU
3) NBA Finals Greatest Moments DVD (great video - MJ at End. You should watch the whole thing)
4) Dream Team Documentary
https://youtu.be/IraymSUdK0M
5) Dream Team 5 on 5 Scrimmage clip (FB Watch)
https://fb.watch/eflS16CGRY/?fs=e&s=cl
6) What is Love? 2003 All Star Game Extended Commercial - Jordan XVIII Sneaker
7) Gatorade Commercial: 23 vs. 39 (MJ Bulls vs. MJ Wizards 1 on 1)
https://youtu.be/f7C5uYCiAs0
If links work and you guys are hungry for more I’ll send more
9) Jordan Commercial - Let Your Game Speak
10) same as above - side by side to MJ
https://youtu.be/SZjbTq4DcAQ
11) Gatorade “Fraction Off” Commercial - IMPOSSIBLE CLIP TO FIND - 1 of the coolest commercials of all time. Cool article u can Google on the Production guy on the making of this btw
12) The Last Dance clip - Tim Grover on MJ after losing 1995 playoffs to Orlando and being embarrassed/doubting himself “I’ll see you”—this was MJ
Context: 1995 playoffs after they lost to Orlando Magic. He came back, but wasn’t his full self yet. Him getting the ball stolen by Penny Hardaway is an iconic image of that.
“If you’re gonna sit there for 2-3 hours to watch me play…”
https://youtu.be/97dMpta3fKQ
1 more important one
8) Jordan at 50 - Interview w/ Ahmad Rashad (45 min - last 15 min and last question answered are fire)
It depends on how you define greatness. If the criteria is focused on who is/was the better basketball player, you would have to go with Jordan. The only factors that Lebron has on his side versus Jordan are longevity and being able to win on multiple teams. I am not a big fan of the longevity factor. The way I see it, if you are picking a team from scratch, who would be your first pick and the answer has to be Jordan. When his career is over, Steph might be ahead of Lebron. Steph's contributions to making the Warriors a winning organization are remarkable. The Warriors win championships when he plays and and suck when he does not play, which means that he is main reason the Warriors have been great.
I would also add that the Lakers performance this year, which was terrible, puts a slight dent in Lebron's legacy.
Agreed. Jordan is the better basketball player
Interesting take considering Lebron's teams dont do anything without him, even more so than Curry. Remind me what was Jordan's teams record when he went out in 94 and 95?
MJ is the GOAT, LeBron is #2.
MJ, I've seen him play. He was the best in a super competitive era.
Old bird, HIV magic, old Pistons. Jordan didnt win anything until the former happened. Also an expansion era. Jordan is 1 or 2 no matter where you slot him, but nothing is over mythicized about his career than the completion he faced and his entire career has been mythicized.
If you were born before laptops you think jordan if you were born in the greatest generation in this planets history you say lebron or as i say LeGoat
Not sure about the supporting cast part of this. MJ played with Pippen and Rodman, who are in the HOF. Rodman was probably the best modern era rebounder. He led the league in rebounds 7x.
This isn't true with the exception of those Miami Heat teams. Bron's finals competition was also definitely better.
Lebron is a very good player but MJ on the court was a god taking human form. Prime MJ would smoke prime Lebron's Chinese-bootlicking bitch ass. Not even a contest.
I have never heard LeBron’s peers talk about him like former players talked about Jordan. As mentioned above, Jordan was basically a living God on the court. I’m not saying LeBron isn’t good - he was the most hyped athlete of all time, and somehow he has surpassed all the hype. His longevity is incredible as are his basketball instincts, so I personally wouldn’t agree about viewing lebron as physically dominant (although I know he wasn’t just saying lebron is physically dominant).
Listen to players like Charles Barkley talk about Jordan. He said something like “that’s when I finally had to accept there was someone better than me”. Jordan didn’t just beat you with his crazy basketball IQ, physical dominance, or will to win. He simply was better than you. You could try and pinpoint something, but it didn’t matter. On the court, he was going to make you his bitch, and he was going to make sure you and everybody in the crowd knew it.
LeBron will go down as one of the best athletes to ever live, but his legacy is nowhere near MJ’s. Jordan is the greatest athlete of all time IMO. He transcends the sport of basketball. He was, and still is, a pop culture icon. He did stuff nobody had ever before seen. He competed in the dunk contest unlike LeBron and cemented the Air Jordan image. His shoes and brand will still be at the forefront of basketball a century from now.
LeBron absolutely dominated the East for nearly 20 years. His run of Finals appearances is amazing, but he constantly made super teams. He basically controls whatever team he’s on. MJ didn’t do this (well to such an extent as LeBron does).
Michael Jordan is in a category of his own. He’s up there with Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali. I don’t think any football player is in that conversation. For soccer, maybe Pele and Maradona. These are players that have become legends. We will look back on LeBron as an absolute monster of a basketball player, but even on the court, you can point to how he made super teams and arguably destroyed the NBA.
Bruh players who are currently playing against their competition don't often talk about their competition with reverence. Barkley hated Jordan when they were playing against each other. That reverence for Bron will come with time. And some people are already doing that.
Super teams always existed in the NBA, you all just made up that distinction with the Heat. Garnett, Allen, and Pierce made a super team literally a few years before that. These are emotional arguments meant for casuals. The Skip/Stephen A crowd.
I think the closest football players to this category would be Barry Sanders, Jim Brown, Jerry Rice and Lawrence Taylor.
Finally someone who actually follows basketball. ^
Isn't LeBron the guy that publicly posted a picture of a white officer who saved a black girl's life and publicly threatened him insulating that he should go to jail. Yea, no thanks.From the comments, you can see MJ will always be the greatest. Even if LeBron beats him in stats, MJ is respected for the person that he is.MJ doesn't get on his knees to the Chinese communist party when hes asked about muslims being put in concentration camps over there. MJ doesn't go on a crypto ad talking to a younger version of himself telling him he's awesome. Nothing personal against LeBron but he's a bit of prick when it comes to his personality. I respect players and how they act off court but that's just me personally. Kobe had a great personality as well RIP.
lol
Basketball discussion about who is the GOAT player and you clowns talk about anything but basketball. MJ is a well known asshole but since he said Republicans buy shoes you're cool with his "personality". Kobe didn't even talk to his own parents.
But yea, LeBron made a commercial and hurt your fragile political beliefs so his personality isn't to your liking. Surface level garbage.
As a resident liberal on WSO, I try to tune out the political views and focus on how players contribute to their respective games. Tbh, I do not really care about their political views. They are paid to help a team win and not generally great speakers or highly educated. The only person who has irritated me a little with his comments is Curt Schilling but I do not think he was as open about his views when he played. When Marcus Stroman was on the Mets, he was very vocal about issues and I had to learn to accept him because he helped the Mets. I agreed with many of his views but it still cringy. I would prefer that players not be vocal about their political views and let their sports ability speak for itself.
What irks me here is the obvious political motivation veiled as "personality" talk. MJ is a complete asshole and there are TONS of stories confirming this, here is one of many:
"When rapper Chamillionaire had the opportunity to meet Jordan, his hero, he asked MJ for a picture with him. Not only did Jordan brush him off, but he also cursed him out and disrespected him by saying "“You know what, I tell you what, you pay $15,000 right now for a jersey from me and I'll take a picture with you."
This is asshole behavior through and through. Let's just keep it about bball.
Michael, and its not even close.
Not really a big basketball guy, but wasn't basketball a lot more physical during MJ's era? I feel like if he was playing in today's era he would be even better.
Should've stopped at "honestly not a basketball guy".
Why? His entire comment has merit. You’re one of those people I just don’t like
Honestly it is Kobe don’t know why nobody mentioned him. He is the true and only goat.
MJ changed the course of history with Jordan. There would be no lebron without MJ, let alone all of the other athletes that own brands of their likeness. This argument is like saying "wright brothers vs Boeing" one would not exist without the other....
I feel like a lot of MJ lore is predicated on the fact that he helped launch the NBA into the mainstream and turned it into a global game, and became the face of it all. The league was so desperate for some spark, David Stern may or may not have rigged the draft the year MJ was drafted so the consensus #1 player (Ewing) could go to the biggest market (Knicks).
MJ was the original basketball God that coincided with the NBA’s rise, the narrative around him can tend to get inflated. No one talks about his Bulls record without Pippen - 3 seasons, losing regular season record, 1-9 in playoff games. One thing I got from the Last Dance was how criminally underrated the Bulls’ GM Kraus was. Starting with trading for Pippen in the draft, he put together a SQUAD around MJ and it was the perfect storm.
Lebron dragged Eric Snow to the finals in his third season, despite being 3 years younger than MJ, who had still yet to win more than a game in one playoff series. Look beyond the narrative that’s been built up for Jordan.
It's MJ and it isn't even close. Dude would legit kill his own mother for a W.
MJ. If you throw out counting stats and look at per game, and any advanced stats, MJ's numbers are better than Lebron's in both the regular season and postseason. MJ was also the far superior defender...even putting aside the fact that Lebron has simply not tried on defense for long stretches during his career. The only thing that Lebron clearly has over Jordan is longevity, which can't be mentioned w/out disclaiming that the league is significantly less physical during Lebron's era and acknowledging that it's easier to have longevity when you don't play all 82 every year.
Also, MJ is the greatest competitor and winner in the history of sports in my (and many others) mind. That counts for quite a bit and I've never heard anyone say that about Lebron - he's firmly out of that conversation.
I would defy anyone to watch the below and make a coherent argument as to why Lebron is the GOAT that doesn't rely solely on longevity and the fact that he was the best player while you were young, while you never actually saw Jordan play.
Steph enters the chat
LeBron has a combined 8 MVPs and finals MVPs.
MJ has a combined 11.
Steph shouldn't even be mentioned with these guys. This generation confuses team accolades with individual accolades.
Why shouldn't Steph be mentioned with these guys? He is one the best players in the history of the NBA and he is not done yet. Prime Curry has no blemishes on his record. Lebron does in that his team sucked this year. Prime Curry has never been on a bad team When Curry is on the floor, he changes the game for everyone. He is the main reason the Warriors are a modern day dynasty. Individual accolades should be meshed with team accolades because most players are focused on winning championships.
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