LOS ANGELES – As the first player to lead three different teams to NBA titles, LeBron James has revived the question of whether he or Michael Jordan is the league’s greatest-ever superstar.
“I don’t know,” James said. “I’m going to let you guys talk about it.”
James captured his fourth NBA title in his 10th finals appearance when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat 106-93 on Sunday to close out the series 4-2.
James was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player for the fourth time. The only player with more finals MVP awards is Jordan with six.
If mere titles alone decided the greatest NBA player, dominant 1960s Boston big man Bill Russell would own the tag with 11, more than Jordan and James combined, in 13 seasons.
However, it was Jordan who took the NBA global by leading the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team” to Barcelona gold, with James responding to a sub-par bronze effort in 2004 by sparking US gold medal runs in 2008 and 2012.
James is only the fourth player in history to reach 10 career NBA Finals. Only Russell and teammate Sam Jones have played more, but James is only 4-6 in the finals.
“The best and most ‘complete’ player I have seen in my lifetime is @KingJames on and off the floor,” long-time Jordan nemesis Isiah Thomas tweeted Thursday. “He passed the eye test and the numbers confirm what my eyes have seen in every statistical category. #GOAT let it be known!”
Thomas is hardly a neutral observer, the bad blood between himself and Jordan clear to see in the Jordan documentary “The Last Dance” that became a global TV hit during the coronavirus shutdown this year.
Kendrick Perkins, a 2015 teammate of James in Cleveland who won an NBA crown with Boston in 2008, cast his vote in the debate with LeBron also.
“My separator from Bron and everybody else is PRESSURE,” he tweeted. “Goat expectations from day 1 at 18 years old carry the city from day (1), comparisons to legends from day 1. All expectations EXCEEDED!”
James is the all-time playoff scoring leader, has played a record 260 playoff games, and ranks third on the NBA all-time scoring list. He’s a 16-time NBA All-Star and a four-time NBA Most Valuable Player while Jordan is a 14-time NBA All-Star and a five-time NBA MVP.
- LeBron rules off-court -
While Jordan was no activist, he was a pioneer off the court, from sealing landmark deals with Nike and others to pushing the global growth of the game. His efforts helped build a foundation from which James could be more outspoken.
James and his More Than A Vote initiative helped register voters and recruited 10,000 election poll workers. He has been a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump and supported racial justice policies in the wake of George Floyd's death last May.
“I do my part on continuing to create change, continuing to educate, continuing to enlighten communities all over the world that listen to me,” James said.
“You control what you can and what you can’t, sometimes as much as it hurts, you just try not to worry about it.” – AFP, October 15, 2020
