Once MJ became the best player in the league in the 80’s there wasn’t a year after that he wasn’t the best player in the league except the Wizards days after coming back from the second retirement.
Lebron during his reign has shared the best player status with multiple players, off the top of my head, players who have inarguably been better than Lebron during his time at some point have been: Kobe, Steph, KD, Giannis and Jokic. Players some people would argue were better than Lebron at some point have been Kawhi, Wade, Dirk and Harden.
Whichever way we land on (let’s assume only the inarguable players who were better than Lebron count), MJ dominated basketball in his time beyond anything Lebron could dream of doing in his.
I think people who say Lebron is the GOAT have to overemphasize how doing what Lebron’s done in his era is harder than what MJ did in his (along with the longevity argument).
I think there is a good chance MJ is surpassed as the GOAT at some point, but Lebron isn’t it.
Thoughts?
You are punishing LeBron for this longevity.
That’s kind a of a dumb point that favors the fact that he retired the two years where he arguably wouldn’t be the best player, and Hakeem was
You guys act like there’s an actual answer to this. It’s tiring
I think I’m doomscrolling this sub because I need a distraction before I go check into the psych ward and this is making it worse
LeBron and Curry are better by default. MJ played against expansion franchises and milkmen.
But Lebron and curry played against podcasters and they thems
Lebron was the best playing in the league from 2006-2019
Kobe takes at least a few of those years.
The best argument for Michael Jordan over LeBron is just the eye test.
It’s closer to one of the worst arguments than one of the best. Lebron has already played 6 more seasons than Jordan. Who cares about “percentage of seasons they were viewed as the best”?
All that matters is actual on-court impact on winning, and the pro-Jordan arguments that rely on that are the best.
Are you factoring in the competition though? The NBA did a rapid expansion at the beginning of the 90s and added in 6 new teams. MJ dominated that era cause the competition pool was flooded with g-league level talent. He got to play a bunch of bums in the finals
Who were a bunch of bums he played in the finals?
He played Magic Johnson in the finals.
Maybe some day someone will surpass MJ, but it sure aint LeMickey
I mean if that’s your criteria sure
Goat is the stupid argument to have because it so subjective and time based, before Kareem it was Russell, before Jordan it was Kareem, before lebron it’s Jordan. Goat is literally which ever generation is screaming the loudest at the moment