Who is the G.O.A.T. of the NBA? LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan

Who is the G.O.A.T. of the NBA? LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan

Andrew Chalmers, Reporter

Michael Jordan or Lebron James. Who is the best to ever do it? Michael was the greatest of the ’90s and LeBron was the greatest of the 2010s but who is better? The great debate of who is the best basketball player of all time has been argued for years but it is time to end it.

Let’s go by the stats first. In Michael Jordan’s 15-year career, he had 32,292 points and averaged 30.1 points per game. He had 5,633 assists and averaged 5.3 assists per game. Finally, Michael Jordan averaged 6.3 rebounds per game and had 6,672 throughout his career.

LeBron James, on the other hand, is currently in his 17th season and has 32,543+ points in his career and currently averages 27.1 points per game. He currently averages 7.4 assists and has 9,116+ in his career. Finally, 9,199+ is the number of rebounds he currently has and averages 7.4 rebounds per game.

Despite LeBron playing two more seasons than Jordan, he has scored more points, has more assists and has more rebounds than Jordan did and LeBron is still playing! According to stats, LeBron James is a better all-around basketball player than Michael but then the argument of Michael Jordan’s 6 out of 6 record in the NBA Finals compared to LeBron’s 3 out of 9 record in the NBA Finals is what Jordan supporters will often use.

But that is the argument that intrigues me. If someone is basing who the best player of all-time is and they use how many championships they have won then why is Bill Russell not the best player of all time? He won 11 championships and only played 13 seasons! Jordan supporters cannot use this argument because Michael Jordan has not won the most NBA championships.

LeBron James played against arguably the greatest team of all-time in the 2016 NBA Finals and came back from a 3-1 series deficit to win against the 73-win Golden State Warriors. Michael Jordan, on the other hand, played for the team who is the team who is argued with the 2016 Warriors as the greatest team of all time. Michael Jordan has never had to overcome any obstacles in the NBA, unlike LeBron who has brought a team to an NBA Finals with a team that only had one more All-Star.

Although Michael Jordan has won 6 Championships, LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of all time according to statistics and overcoming obstacles.