The fact is the conversation for LeBron over Michael is growing and in some cases, LeBron has already passed Jordan as the greatest of all time. I want to take a look at stats through the stats based on Jordan's 15 seasons and LeBron's 14. For the first part of this argument I want to put the championships aside because of the team aspect of the sport and just look at individually what they accomplished. I don't know who the greatest of all time is but I do know that LeBron is definitely in the conversation.
LeBron James
Current Ranks
Regular Season
Games Played -87th with 1061 games
Minutes Played - 25th with 41272 minutes
3-Pt Field Goals - 26th with 1467 3-Pt field goals
3-pt % - .342
Field Goals - 13th with 10423 field goals
FG % - 123rd with .501
Total Rebounds - 71st with 7707 rebounds
Assists - 12th with 7461 assists
Steals - 20th with 1749 steals
Points - 7th with 28787 points
Playoffs
Games Played - 9th with 207 games
Minutes Played - 3rd with 8722 minutes
3-Pt Field Goals - 4th with 309 3-Pt field goals
3-pt % - .328
Field Goals - 3rd with 2058 field goals
FG% - .481
Total Rebounds - 7th with 1830 rebounds
Assists - 3rd with 1405 assists
Steals - 3rd with 371 steals
Blocks - 21st with 198 blocks
Points - 2nd with 5847 points
Accolades
7 NBA Finals appearances
6 straight NBA Finals appearances
3x NBA Champion
3x NBA Finals MVP
4x NBA MVP
13x NBA All-Star
2x NBA All-Star Game MVP
10x All-NBA First Team
2x All-NBA Second Team
5x All-Defensive First Team
NBA Rookie of the Year
2x AP Athlete of the Year
2x Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year
3x Olympic Medalist
Michael Jordan
Current Ranks
Regular Season
Games Played - 82nd with 1072 games
Minutes Played - 26th with 41011 minutes
3-Pt Field Goals - 230th with 581 3-Pt field goals
3-Pt % - .327
Field Goals - 4th with 12192 field goals
FG % - 144th with .497
Total Rebounds - 122nd with 6672 rebounds
Assists - 43rd with 5633 assists
Steals - 3rd with 2514 steals
Points - 4th with 32292 points
Playoffs
Games Played - 18th with 179 games
Minutes Played - 12th with 7474 minutes
3-Pt Field Goals - 30th with 148 3-Pt field goals
3-Pt % - .332
Field Goals - 2nd with 2188 field goals
FG % - .487
Total Rebounds - 35th with 1152 rebounds
Assists - 10th with 1022 assists
Steals - 2nd with 376 steals
Points - 1st with 5987 points
Accolades
6x NBA Finals appearances
6x NBA Champion
6x NBA Finals MVP
5x NBA MVP
14x NBA All-Star
3x NBA All-Star Game MVP
10x All-NBA First Team
9x All-Defensive First Team
1x NBA Defensive Player of the Year
10x NBA Scoring Champion
NBA Rookie of the Year
3x AP Athlete of the Year
2x Olympic Medalist
- Everyone knows stat based it won't even be close, LeBron will be better in almost all major stats
- Jordan lost 3 first round playoff series
- Jordan had a losing record 5 times out of 15 seasons compared to LeBron having 1
- Jordan missed the playoffs twice which equals the number of times LeBron has so far
- The Bulls drafted someone like Pippen so Jordan didn't need to go anywhere but Jordan didn't do anything without Pippen, LeBron took a team to the Finals with no other superstars. Don't forget Jordan didn't win in the playoffs without Pippen
- How valuable was Pippen if Jordan couldn't win without him?
- LeBron spent 7 years in Cleveland the first time waiting for another superstar but without another true superstar made 5 playoff appearances with no 1st round exits and 1 Finals appearance
- LeBron has better shooting percentage from 3, 2, and overall then Jordan
- Jordan faced tough competition in the Finals but the only team that his opponents were better then compared to LeBron is the Mavericks team in 2011
- LeBron has faced tougher Finals competition even if the path to Finals hasn't been as tough
- Jordan was great defensively but overall they are even because LeBron has the ability to guard 1-5
- Jordan was 6-6 in the Finals but if Lebron gets one or two more he can potentially be 4 or 5 out of 9 or 10 appearances, Why penalize LeBron for making more appearances which Jordan didn't have the ability to do but in reality sometimes we forget basketball is a team sport and LeBron has only had 1 bad finals in his 7 appearances
The point is let us not discredit everything LeBron has accomplished just because many people hold Jordan at a level he never actually accomplished. We forget in the argument of G.O.A.T that Jordan had flaws and wasn't perfect. The fact that Jordan never went to chase a title and form a super team is because the Bulls got him a superstar which he had to have or he may have never won anything. The fact is Pippen played a huge part in his success and the numbers show it. I don't know who the G.O.A.T is but based on the numbers and facts LeBron is definitely in the conversation. LeBron is one of the better human beings to ever play in the NBA and needs to get more credit for his accomplishments. The road to being the G.O.A.T is one of toughest things to ever endure because of the god-like image of Jordan many people have but to become the G.O.A.T isn't impossible.
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