Who is the greatest basketball player of all time? For decades, as the NBA landscape continues to change, people have pondered who the greatest player of all time is, or the GOAT. However, NBA fans agree that only two men can achieve GOAT status: Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
Jordan and James have earned the right to compete for this glorious title. Jordan dominated the late 1980s and 1990s, winning six NBA championships in eight years. James, on the other hand, has been dominant since entering the league in 2004 (a year after Jordan retired) and is the only player to surpass the 40,000-point mark.
Due to both of their success and lack of head-to-head competition, no one can agree on who is the GOAT. The debate felt like a presidential campaign, and people were passionate about the topic.
Depending on how one views the case, it seems difficult to find answers. If you value team dominance and individual awards, Jordan will be the favorite. However, James is still playing at the top level at the age of 40. By the time Jordan was 40 years old, he had been retired for four years.
Some old fans think Jordan is the GOAT because of the era he played in. Back in the 1990s, defense was the focus of most teams. In the 1997-98 season, Jordan’s last championship season, he averaged 95.5 points per game. At the same time, teams have seen a surge in scoring this season, currently averaging 114.7 points per game.
This has led some fans to question whether James would have been half as good if he had played in the 1990s. However, recent social media trends may prove that James will not only be as great as he is now, but better.
Recently, on TikTok, there has been a trend of supporting James in unprecedented ways. Instead of showing the highlights of James as a player, young people on TikTok are bashing Jordan for his era. In some of the video comments, people claimed they had “had enough of the ’90s.” The videos show how basketball from decades ago was vastly different than it is today in terms of poor offense, lackluster defense and overall intensity.
I do feel like this trend is exaggerated, but it does bring about the Achilles’ heel in the case of the Jordan Goat.
As the NBA has grown over the years, so has the competition. We’re now seeing physical specimens from around the world playing the game faster and more efficiently than we could in the 90s. This results in players being able to score more often without a drop in defense.
This leads me to believe that James should be considered the greatest basketball player of all time due to the ever-improving talent pool in the NBA. I also believe that James would not have become the GOAT without Jordan first laying out the blueprint.
James said in an interview that Jordan is one of his biggest inspirations. Jordan’s legacy in the game of basketball will live on in James and the hundreds of players who wore his shoes as kids, watched his highlights or witnessed him play in person.
The debate over “GOAT” has been tedious. We need to appreciate what these players have done for the league. In addition, in the next 20 years, it is only a matter of time before James is surpassed by a young star in the league in the selection of “the best player of all time”.
Quinn Elfers is a freshman journalism major at Ohio University.Please note that the views and opinions of columnists do not reflect post. Want to share your thoughts on this column?Send Quinn an email and let him know me989022@ohio.edu.