My Take: Ending the LeBron vs Jordan Debate

The Pyramid of Giza. Early 2000’s Nokia phones. LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan. All three things seem to withstand the sands of time. Years from now, our children and their children will have their own opinions on who is the greatest basketball player of all time. The issue with this is that everyone is biased. Those that are Team LeBron are on his side because they’re young and never got to see Jordan play, so when they witness greatness they refuse to believe that anything was ever better. People that are Team Jordan are just as stubborn; holding on to the past and thinking it won’t be bested. This great debate is going to be a hard one; so hang on, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Let’s start with our tale of the tape. In one corner, we have LeBron James. He has three championship rings and has won Finals MVP each time. He is a 14 time All-Star and has been to the All-Star game every year since 2005. LeBron won four NBA MVP’s and he has two Olympic Gold medals, from ’08 and ’12.

In the other corner, we have the legendary Michael Jordan. I don’t even need to mention the six rings, six Finals MVPs, five NBA MVPs, or the 14 times he’s been an All Star. MJ also has two Olympic Gold medals. Not much more needs to be said after simply hearing his name.
G.O.A.T. right?

But, what we once knew as great, may no longer be. Let’s take a closer look.

If we’re going with the typical, “who has more rings?” method, MJ’s six rings completely trump LeBron’s three. In this situation; however, we have to dig deeper. Since LeBron has been in the league for roughly the same amount of time that MJ was, we can finally start to compare stats. Who is the better player, without the awards and credentials? Well, Jordan has a better Points Per Game (PPG) average, leading LeBron by 3 (30.1to 27.1) points per game. He also has more career points, further edging out LeBron (as of today) at 32,292 to 30,512. However, LBJ has a higher career field goal and 3-point percentage. This means that although MJ was a scorer who scored more, he was less efficient, especially considering that LeBron has more career assists and more rebounds. Now this brings up a typical question when deciding all-time greats. How are they in crunch time? Who do we want taking the final shot at the buzzer with the game on the line? In the playoffs, with 5 seconds or less in a tie game or trailing, both were still neck and neck with Jordan going 5-11 and LeBron going 6-12. In a game winning situation in the playoffs, these two are almost identical when it matters. No dead giveaway here, but rings aside, the better player is going to have to be LeBron by a hair.

With that being said, ignoring the career stats, if you’re going to compare rings, we have to actually talk about the championship teams that they were on because they didn’t win alone and you cannot compare the teams they were on.

First, we have Jordan, who first went to the finals in 1991. That year MJ and sidekick Scottie Pippen beat the aging Magic Johnson and the Lakers in 5 games, with Pippen pretty much shutting down Magic all series long. In 1992, The Final’s series went to 6 games, but the Bulls managed to pull out the W against the Portland Trail Blazers. In 1993, the Bulls pulled off a three-peat against the Phoenix Suns and Michael Jordan decided to ride off into the sunset and pursue a career in baseball after 9 seasons in the NBA. He came back late in the ’94 season and the Bulls ended up losing in the playoffs to Shaq and the Orlando Magic. That offseason, they acquired Dennis Rodman, creating a super-team. With Jordan, Rodman, and Pippen in their starting five and sharpshooter Steve Kerr off the bench, they won a record (at the time) 72 games the next year, becoming one of the best teams in the history of the league. Jordan and the Bulls won every championship from 1995 until 1998, when Jordan retired again prior to the 1999 season. He’d make another comeback again after that and play for a couple more teams, but never saw the Finals again.

Now we have LeBron. He went to the finals his first time against a top-notch Spurs team that could’ve competed with the ’95-’96 Bulls. MVP Tony Parker, Tim Duncan, and of course, Manu Ginobili were still in the prime of their careers. LeBron was pretty much a one man team that year. He just couldn’t win alone in Cleveland, so in 2011 he decided to take his talents down to South Beach, join D-Wade and free agent Chris Bosh, and create a super-team. Despite this stacked team, LeBron still lost that year to Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks. Over the next couple years, LeBron beat the Thunder in 2012 and beat the Spurs in 2013.
In a rematch in 2014, the Spurs came out victorious. After this loss and winning a couple of rings (as intended), LeBron returned home to Cleveland to join the young star, Kyrie Irving. The Cavs also traded for Kevin Love to replicate LeBron’s “Big Three.” In 2015, The Warriors, and MVP Stephen Curry, started their dominance and beat the Cavs in the finals, becoming the first of three consecutive meetings between these teams. In the 2016 meeting, the back to back MVP Steph Curry and the 73-9 Warriors once again faced the underdog Cavaliers, and the Cavs came out on top in an exciting 7-game series. The next offseason, the Warriors picked up free agent Kevin Durant and eventually beat the Cavs in five games in the 2017 Finals.

I don’t care what the nature of their teams were. I don’t care that LeBron had to go to the Heat to win a ring. I don’t care that MJ basically always had a super-team, even when LeBron had to leave Cleveland to go make his own. Michael Jordan never lost in the Finals. LeBron can get a ring every year for the rest of his career, and he still will have those losses on his resumé — Jordan won’t.

Personally, I don’t think that Jordan’s Bulls team could have faced the Warriors teams that LeBron faced and came out victorious every time, even with KD on that squad. Unfortunately, we’ll never know, and all we are left with is the fact that MJ has more rings, and two three-peats to his belt. LeBron has lost more finals than he has won. So, Jordan wins that discussion.

So, with all that “blah-blah” history and gee-wiz information behind us, it’s time to decide who the real MVP actually is.

LeBron’s the better overall player, but Jordan has more rings.

So, until LeBron does a movie with Bugs Bunny and the rest of the guys from Looney Tunes, I’m going to have to take Jordan.

That’s All Folks!