Whos the greatest of all time? MJ? Or LeBron?
Its the kind of debate that sports yellers on AM radio fall back on when theres no good sports news. But its also a question that feels worn out before its even posed-the hoops equivalent of asking if a hot dog is a sandwich. And yet, the question continues to invite all sorts of extremely adamant opinions-a Beatles vs. Stones argument for the court.
Its weird, and it needs to stop.
LeBrons 32,311 points and counting to Jordans 32,292 have already brought this threadbare debate back to the fore. The exhausted GOAT question was posed after the Lakers losing effort Wednesday by , , , and more-and I completely understand why. These two men, after all, are the defining players of their eras-stunningly dominant stars who have effectively served as the faces of the league not just across America, but the world over. Its only natural to want to compare them.
But the thing about greatness is that it constitutionally resists comparison. Greatness, by its nature, is unique to that which possesses it. How can you compare the vast beauty of the Grand Canyon to Niagara Falls? The genius of Shakespeare to Toni Morrison? Who was a more important president: George Washington or Abraham Lincoln?
MJ and LeBron are both great-in their own way, in their own times, for their own reasons. Pitting them against each other not only unfairly minimizes one of the players accomplishments (not to mention those of a whole host of other great players who never even get to be part of this debate), but also reduces the meaning of the word greatness itself, as though such a concept could be quantified by statistics.
I say all this despite having a rooting interest here.
I live in Chicago, where Jordans legacy still reigns supreme in our sports culture-his dynastic Bulls of the 1990s remains the ruler against which all our citys other athletic achievements are measured. I grew up watching those Bulls, coming of basketball-watching age right around the time they were launching their second three-peat. Its easy to forget sometimes how insane that was. Those 72 wins in the 1995-96 season? Holy crap! I know the Golden State Warriors would later break that record, but thats still bonkers, once-in-a-generation domination, if youre lucky. Jordan didnt do it by himself-Scottie Pippen, in particular, was extraordinary, as was a supporting cast of characters that included Dennis Rodman, Toni Kukoc, and Steve Kerr-but His Airness was, of course, the star of the show.
I loved Jordan growing up like so many other kids, and one of my most cherished childhood moments was when I met him. I was 10 or 11-just after his sixth championship-and I went to his basketball camp in the Chicago suburbs. At the end of the camp, the teams got to take pictures with Mike. By some turn of fortune, I found myself standing next to him. Like all suburban white kids in 1999, I had a frosted-tips hairdo. We lined up to take the picture, and Jordan-66 to my, say, 410-put his arm around me, smirked, and said: Nice hair.
In retrospect, this may have been some of his famous trash talk, but I took it as a compliment: Thanks, I said. My family still has the resulting photo, and my aunt even made a version enlarged to the point that none of my other teammates are in the frame: Its just me and Mike.
I still waste time by watching Jordan highlights online. Have you watched any clips of Jordan playing recently? You really should.
Its so accepted at this point that Michael Jordan is the greatest-or second greatest, depending on your view-of all time that its easy to forget sometimes what that greatness looked like in action. Dunks? You bet your ass there were . Circus layups? My God, he hit some . And that jump shot-smooth as silk, sure as the sunrise, preserved in our collective sports consciousness in his to sink the Cavs in the 1989 NBA playoffs. Dude was unstoppable, and seemed especially so in those moments it mattered most.
That superhuman clutch-and over-the-top competitiveness-is often thrown out by those who say Jordan is the GOAT as a kind of knock on James. Jordan himself once seemingly took a dig at LeBron, after King James in 2010 to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh as part of the Big Three that he never would have called up [Larry Bird], called up [Magic Johnson], and said, Hey, look, lets get together and play on one team.
Indeed, so much of the continued criticism of James-so much of the arguments against his GOAT status-seems like extended bitterness over his Decision, the legitimately unseemly television special in which James announced he was fleeing the Cleve for South Florida. It was an unnecessary spectacle, but also something that happened almost 10 years ago now and that he already for. And while joining up with two of the best players in the game in search of that elusive NBA title gave ammo to the pro-Jordan side-MJ didnt need to join a stacked team to win championships, the argument went-it became kind of a moot point once he returned to the Cavaliers and brought his hometown of Cleveland (well, Akron, technically) a championship.
Indeed, the LeBron story of the last few years has been much more like that of his first years in the league: Hes the best part of bad or mediocre teams, willing and muscling pretty uninspiring squads (like last years Cavs) to the top of the NBA. Were living through a pretty amazing dynasty right now with the Golden State Warriors, a team that has been so jam-packed with talent it makes a mockery of the Big Three-era Miami Heat, and yet James individual greatness still shines-even though the clunky Los Angeles Lakers he now plays for have done their best to dull it.
Yes, James has an absolutely absurd highlight reel, too, thats worth revisiting.
Dunks? Check. Clutch shots? Oh, hell yeah. James is an unparalleled playmaker, virtually unequaled in his ability to take over a game from either side of the court.
But whats also striking when you watch James highlights and Jordan highlights back-to-back is how different the two are as players. How do you even begin to compare , which is cool, with , which is cool in its own individualistic way?
Its at this point that Jordan-James debaters start coughing up math. LeBron has more points, MJ has more rings-on and on it goes. Again, this is understandable-stats lend a veneer of science to what is ultimately subjective. But they can only tell you so much. Despite James and Jordan always dominating the GOAT question, neither has as many career points as Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. By that logic, does that mean the Mailman was greater than Air Jordan? For that matter, there are 13 players who earned as many or more championship rings in their careers as Jordan. Does, say, Robert Horry, who never even made an All-Star Game, belong in the GOAT lineup because he was on seven title teams?
When we talk about the GOAT, were taking a holistic view of the player. That these debates hinge so much on the theoretical-would LeBron have made, or taken, The Shot? How would MJ fare in a more athletic NBA than the one he played in?-makes them far more based on emotion than anything else. How one feels about Jordan and James, then, often reveals far more about the person making the case, relying on geographic, stylistic, and generational preferences.
But heres the thing: You dont have to choose between them. Lets retire this question-right now, forever. If youre old enough to genuinely engage in the debate, you should be grateful that youve been lucky enough to witness two of the greatest players in history at the top of their form. Sports debates can be fun, especially a few beers in, but this one is tiresome. Played out. The most ardent James backers might be guilty of forgetting how damn good Jordan was. Meanwhile, those who refuse to entertain the idea that James is better than Jordan may be guilty of excessive nostalgia.
After all, there was once another young player who, like James, entered the NBA to expectations that hed eventually be among the best to ever play. He was a , some said. His own coach called notions that he was better than the likes of Julius Erving, a player hed never gone up against, heresy. Yes, the thought that in 1984, Jordan-then a twig of a 21-year-old rookie-could one day surpass Erving was probably pretty inconceivable. Its hard in this day and age of athletics to compare anyone to Julius, on or off the court, then-Bulls coach Kevin Loughery told the in a profile of the promising but untested guard out of North Carolina. No one else is even close.
But every generation makes way for the next one, which builds on the successes of its forebears. James acknowledged Jordans influence after breaking his idols record: You guys have no idea what MJ did for me and my friends growing up, James said after the game, another Lakers loss, on Wednesday. I thank MJ more than he would ever know.
You guys have no idea what MJ did for me and my friends growing up. ... I thank MJ more than he would ever know." - @KingJames after passing Michael Jordan on the all-time scoring list pic.twitter.com/qBhXihINpi - SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 7, 2019
And Jordan, the great competitor, offered his own praise-albeit brief-of James in turn.
Hornets owner Michael Jordan issues brief statement on LeBron James passing him on the NBAs all-time scoring list: I want to congratulate LeBron on achieving another great milestone during his amazing career. - Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) March 7, 2019
I want to congratulate LeBron on achieving another great milestone during his amazing career, he said.
James and Jordan seem to be fine, at least publicly, with the idea of sharing the greatness. We should, too.