I’ve recently gone down the rabbit hole of Jordan shit tonight and this combo of stats blew my mind.
He’s never been a point guard for an extended time. I know he played point guard at the end of a season and racked up 10 triple doubles out of 11 games. Out of his decently lengthy career he’s barely done it but… he still put up 11+ assists a game in a finals and only 2 other players in history have done this. Both point guards their whole careers(Cousey and Magic).
Then 2 finals later he sets the finals ppg record at 41 points.
Both of these have not been broken since those years 30-32 years ago.
Bonus: he set the playoff scoring total record in the playoffs in the year between those. That hasn’t been broken either
He won all 3 years to support the awesomeness even further
Dafuq was this dude on???
Someday there will be a player that legitimately challenges MJ in the goat debate, and I just hope I’m around to see him play when that happens.
That’s just crazy bruh, LeBron or MJ is the goat, I have no problem if anyone has either of them #1, to say LeBron doesn’t even challenge is crazy.
VICTOR WEMBENYAMA
You don’t think Lebron has an argument against Jordan? I think it’s debatable right now at the very least.
He can be argued but at the end of the argument it’s still solidly jordan.
Lebron is the solid #2 though.
I put Jordan ahead (flair, duh), but I think there is a debate. Lebron’s longevity at such a high level is beyond belief, but Jordan’s insane competitiveness puts him above for me.
LeBron is just as competitive, just a stupid argument. The reason Jordan is the GOAT is his privileged upbringing compared to LeBron. LeBron had no one to teach him how to shoot and other basics at a young age. If LeBron’s name was LeBron Curry born to Dell Curry he would have been the GOAT. Jordan is just way better technically than LeBron
MJs dad was a mechanic and his family had a basic middle class background. What are you talking about? lol Also there was significantly more programs to develop young basketball talent by the time LeBron was coming up.
Eh, it’s unfair to say LeBron didn’t even challenge him in the debate - and I come down firmly on the side of Jordan being #1.
At worst LeBron is a legitimate challenger for GOAT, even if you don’t think he ultimately makes the cut.
No.
I think LBJ is probably the closest anyone will come
Had LeBron been born in a good family like Steph he would have been the GOAT easily. That brother became a GOAT contender off pure talent with no one even teaching how to shoot a jumper. Can’t learn that later in your life. Ambidextrous, perfect body and incredible vision but struggles to shoot a FT because he didn’t have the privilege to learn fundamentals like Steph.
MJ had great family support as well. Wemby has the perfect body if you ignore injury risk and great fundamentals from a basketball family. LeBron James had the worst conditions with many flaws and is still close so I believe we haven’t seen the GOAT yet. I haven’t seen a flawless basketball player yet. A small guy like Steph coming near the top shows me there’s still a lot of inefficiency at the top. Jordan is the closest thing to a flawless player I know but he is still a little too small and inefficient from deep to be the permanent GOAT in basketball imo. In football I feel I have seen the perfect player with perfect physical, technical abilities, IQ, vision in Messi.
If my grandmother had wheels she would’ve been a bike
I honestly don’t know if that ever happens. I mean, there will probably be a few more “Lebrons” that come along (maybe Wemby ends one of them) that some people will argue is the GOAT, but even as great as Lebron was, he’s not really close when you consider that recency bias is HEAVILY in Lebron’s favor. Let me put it this way. If Lebron played in the 90s and MJ was here today and had his career that he did…there would be zero discussion. Everyone would call MJ the GOAT and people would be arguing Lebron/Wilt/Russell/Kareem/Magic, etc….as very distant possible #2s.
Even when you get past all the stats and accolades…you got the swagger, the trash talking, the LOOK, the air ballet, the SHOES, the NICKNAME, the global presence, the commercials, BE LIKE MIKE, the dunk championships…I mean…that’s like icing on top of icing on top of icing on top of the already GOAT cake.
I have argued that MJ is the Gretzky of basketball in that he’s THAT far from everyone else. Maybe not in pure stats like Gretzky but when you factor in all the other things…it DEFINES greatness.