Arguments for LeBron James as the greatest (Sam Maney):
LeBron James is the greatest basketball player of all time. The well-rounded style of his game has been unmatched by anyone in history, and his ability to make others around him better on the court is something that has never been seen before.
It all started when LeBron was in high school. He had generated so much hype as a player that his first nationally televised game was played at age 17. Though his career started young, the pressure never got to him. In his first game on national television, he scored 31 points and was easily the best on the court. LeBron’s ability to remain unfazed under pressure would stay throughout his career. The hype around LeBron grew during his senior year, and after he declared for the draft in April of 2003 (straight from highschool), it was expected that he would be selected first overall.
The Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Draft Lottery and LeBron got to stay in Ohio. Cleveland is only a 43 minute drive from Akron, LeBron’s hometown, but LeBron notoriously states that he grew up hating the bigger city. LeBron’s excellence continued in Cleveland. At any given age, LeBron was a better player than Michael Jordan.
Observing both careers, there are logical reasons to conclude that LeBron was better at every age. LeBron made the leap to the NBA three years earlier than Jordan did (LeBron went straight from high school). At age 20, LeBron was averaging 31 points per game against professionals. At the same age, Jordan got bounced out of the college Sweet 16 by Indiana while averaging fewer points than other notable players in the tournament.
Between their careers, LeBron had a higher true shooting percentage than Jordan, even after playing 22 seasons. There was only one time in Jordan’s career where he had more assists and rebounds than any of the seasons in LeBron’s career. When Jordan left the Bulls after retiring for the first time, they won only two less games than when he played for them. When LeBron left the Cavaliers the first time, the team went from 61 wins to 19 wins the next season.
The main difference between Jordan and LeBron, and the factor that makes LeBron the greatest, is the ability to put a team on his shoulders. LeBron has had this ability since high school, when he lost only one game in his career. He won 81/82 games while leading the team in every statistical category. He also led his team to three state championships in four years.
LeBron continued to lead extremely underwhelming rosters to the pinnacle of the sport throughout his career, whereas Jordan started his career losing nine out of ten playoff games because of a lack of a supporting cast. In LeBron’s second playoff run ever, he “carried the Cavs to their first Finals appearance” (NBA.com). LeBron was able to turn a notoriously bad organization around in just three years, and he put the team on his back to make a run at a championship. In comparison, it took Jordan eight years to reach his first finals.
LeBron, though helped by his teammates, was never dependent on one player to be a winner. Michael Jordan had a losing record in games without Scottie Pippen. According to Fadeawayworld, Jordan was 1-9 in the playoffs and 154-170 in total games without Pippen.
From a purely statistical perspective, LeBron leads in almost every category. He leads Jordan in points, rebounds, assists, field goal percentage, and 3-point percentage. Others argue that Jordan was the better defensive player because he won the Defensive Player Of the Year (DPOY) award in 1988. The reason LeBron doesn’t have the same award is because of an extremely controversial decision to give the award to Marc Gasol in 2013. LeBron had more defensive rebounds and more steals than Gasol in this year, and the only defensive category (or category at all) that Gasol led in was blocks. Gasol had 0.8 more blocks per game than LeBron. LeBron still had a better +/-, which is the difference in the score when a player is on or off the court. LeBron also played more minutes and had fewer personal fouls. He won Most Valuable Player (MVP) that year as well as finals MVP. Fans suspect that voter fatigue is the reason LeBron was not awarded DPOY in 2013. To this day, when you type “LeBron DPOY” in the search bar of Google, it autofills the word “robbery” after.
LeBron James also has more first-team All-NBA selections than Jordan with his thirteen trumping Jordan’s ten. This shows LeBron’s unmatched longevity and ability to stay at the peak of basketball for longer than anyone in history. At age 40, Jordan averaged 20 points per game with only 6.1 rebounds and less than 4 assists. At the same age, LeBron averaged 24.4 points with 7.8 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game.
James is a far better team player. One statistic that highlights this the most is playoff series wins without a player considered to be in the top 75 all-time. LeBron has 20. Jordan has 0. LeBron also has faced much more daunting finals opponents in his career.
LeBron James has had the most impressive career of any player, all-time. Scottie Pippen says it best when he talks about what his career would look like without Mike: “I would’ve got my 6 [rings]”. Joel Anthony couldn’t say the same thing about his two rings.
Arguments for Jordan as the greatest (Jude Shull):
In terms of longevity, Lebron has in fact done better than Jordan. He’s played over 1,700 total games, with arguably one of the best teams in the league. The fact that either player has been “carried” to their victories should be put aside completely. At the most bare-bones level, Jordan is the better player.
Lebron has had more time to build up his accolades and actual skill, but has fallen short as Jordan is simply more effective. Jordan has the leading PPG with an astounding 30.1, the highest in NBA history, and Lebron sits at 27 PPG (Regular Season). In the Playoffs, Jordan averages 33.4 PPG, while lebron averages 28.4 PPG.
Yet again, Jordan proves his superiority in scoring titles, as well as a lengthy list of other accolades. Jordan has secured 10 scoring titles, and Lebron has 1. In steal titles, Jordan led the league in steals 3 separate times, Lebron has never achieved this.
Jordan has 6 titles with a perfect 6-0 Finals record, Lebron has 4 titles with a 4-6 Finals record.
Jordan earned 6 Finals MVPs; Lebron has 4.
Jordan won 5 MVP awards; Lebron has 4.
Jordan’s PER (Player Efficiency Rating) leads with 27.9; Lebron has 26.9
Jordan’s BPM (Box Plus/Minus) is 9.2; Lebron’s is 8.5
Jordan’s usage rate is 33.3% and Lebron’s is 31.5%
Jordan has a 83.5% Free Throw Percentage; Lebron has 73.7%
LeBron has a better team with more all-star players than Jordan, so Lebron leads in assists. Lebron has played more seasons (21), and many more games (around 1,700 over Jordan’s 1072), leading to a success in total career points. This is about all Lebron can get credit for.
