Given that their careers don’t actually overlap, is LeBron James really a rival to Michael Jordan? If you ask Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes, the Chicago Bulls star definitely is, at least in LeBron’s eyes. “After all, no player, current or otherwise, is more often used as a comparison for James than Michael Jordan,” B/R NBA analysts wrote.
“The ongoing and probably unresolvable ‘GOAT’ debate has never pitted James against Curry, Pierce or anyone else,” Hughes added, noting that the Hall of Famer would not be opposed to pitting other such celebrities against He was interested in the emptiness of the comparative article. “On the other hand, discussions between James and Jordan were in full swing in barber shops, bars and studios.”
“LeBron’s career was significantly longer (and uninterrupted by baseball), which gives him an edge in most statistics,” Hughes reminds us. “Yet Jordan had more points per game, more rings, more MVPs, Defensive Player of the Year awards and the honor of never losing in the Finals.”
“If you think it’s difficult to compare players who dominated such different eras and whose circumstances forced them to perform a tricky balancing act between longevity and prime, you’d be right,” the B/R expert added.
“That’s why, unlike nearly all of James’ other competitors, Jordan remains one to be reckoned with.”