We all know one thing that will stir up any basketball fan: who’s the Greatest of All Time (GOAT), Michael Jordan or LeBron James? This question has been the center of many barbershop debates and sports fans’ conversations. Some have even physically fought over it – no kidding. 

With LeBron James becoming the all-time leading scorer in NBA history recently, many people are giving him the title of the greatest of all time. But, I’m here to tell you why that is false and why Micheal Jordan still reigns supreme as the best to touch a basketball. 

To get the all-time leading scoring thing out of the way, James has played 341 more games than Jordan. That equals four seasons and some change that LeBron has played more than Jordan. More games means more time to break the record. 

Furthermore, Jordan reached key scoring benchmarks before James, reaching 30K points scored in a whopping 147 games less than James. This also points to why Jordan bests James in scoring per game, with 30.1 points per game to James’ 27.2. Ultimately, Jordan has 10 regular season scoring titles and LeBron has 1. Jordan is a five-time MVP while James has been named MVP just four times, in many more seasons played at that.

Going further into the stats, James wins out in some categories, and Jordan in others. Arguably what really sets Jordan apart as the GOAT is his post-season performances. In this area, the accolades aren’t even close. Yes, James has made it to way more finals than Jordan, but he still has fewer championships and I personally don’t believe in participation trophies. I’ll admit making it to the finals is an accomplishment itself. But making it and winning are two completely different achievements; every time Jordan made it to the finals, his team won. The same cannot be said for James.

To close this debate I want to end with impact on a team and what each player brought to the game. Jordan is considered not to be the best teammate and has tons of conflict among them. However, this didn’t stop the team from completing 3 3-peats to win it all.

LeBron on the other hand has been told to have been an amazing teammate and gets players involved in the offense way more. But, this weakness shows in his lack of championships. LeBron never took the initiative to have that killer instinct in pressure moments within the game.

This taints his legacy and I think it might be too late for him as the window starts to close on his career. Will LeBron pass Jordan? Maybe, only time will tell as father time quickly approaches him.