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?
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.