With each passing game, LeBron James, the newly crowned all-time scoring champion,puts more distance between himselfand all those enshrined inbasketball's hall of fame.
And as he steps onto the court this Sunday in Salt Lake City,James will tieKareem Abdul-Jabbarfor the most NBA All-Star Game appearances – his19th consecutive.
So is he finallythe greatest of all time?
Ask Google:"best NBA player of all time." You get 394 millionresults in half a second. Whosepicture appears in the top left corner? James. Directly to his right: Michael Jordan.
Settled. Right?
Maybe not. Alink just below the photos says: "Here's why Michael Jordan is still the greatest player of all time."
Like any great sports debate, there's a strong argument for either to claim GOAT status. Career averages, games played, championships, honors. We'll walk you through a bunch.
Jordan vs. James: Per game averages
Just consider Jordan's and James'averages. Thenumbersbelow would be career games for the majority ofNBA players – not just what you could expect from both of themeach time they walked onto the court.
Jordan has a relatively large points-per-game lead over James, but James' two extra assists per game ultimatelyled to more points per game for his teams. And even though he's the NBA scoring leader, it's unlikely James will ever eclipseJordan's scoring average – even thoughthe's beena 30-pointscorer this season and last.
Edge: No clear winner
Jordan vs. James: Career points
Yes, there canbe some Jordan bias here.
James is the NBA's all-time scoring leader, but Jordan hit major scoring milestones well ahead of James throughout his career. Some may say James has an advantage because scoring has been easier in this era. Yes, 3-pointers play a bigger role in today's game, but the average team scored just over 102 pointsin both of their eras.
Edge: James. Breaking Abdul-Jabbar's39-year-old record should mean something.
Games played per season since entering the NBA
"Load management," aka taking games off to recharge, has changed expectations during James' era. He's played all 82 regular season games once in his 20-year career. Jordan played all 82in nine of his 15 seasons, includingthree consecutive seasons in the Bulls' last three championship seasons.
Edge: Another toss up because their paths and eras are so different. Jordan missedjust two regular-season games as he successfully completed two championship runs with a 1992Olympic gold medal sandwiched in between. James had a similar run with the Miami Heat and a few more days off. He's also persisted for20 years as one of the NBA's top performers.
Points per shot attempt
James' and Jordan's shooting efficiency(total points per shot attempt) crisscrossed early in their careers, but James created some separation from his sixth year on. He topped out at 1.5 points per shot in his final two years with the Heat. The NBA average has been about 1.2 points per shot attempt throughout the past 40 years – a mark Jordan fell below three times following times away from the game.
Edge: James. He's never fallen below the league average after his first season – even as he's drawn most team's top defenders.
Points per season
Jordan only fell belowJames' points per season when he broke his foot in his second season and when he returned from each of his retirements. One of those began witha partial season shortly after he gave up his baseball dream with the Birmingham (Alabama) Barons.
Edge: Jordan. In addition to outscoring James in 11 of their first 15 seasons, Jordan holds 10scoring titles to James'one.
Jordan vs. James: Advanced metrics
Even withadvanced metrics which tryto balancedifferences in eras, you can make a case for either.
In "value over replacement,"the all-encompassing number ofa player's value, James leads everyone who has ever played by a sizable margin. Some of the 30-point difference between him and Jordan canbe attributedto his longevity, but grinding through 20 years as one of the NBA's top performers is remarkable.
Edge: James. The two are so close on these and many other metrics, but James' value over replacement easily tips the balance. For what it's worth, only James, Jordan and John Stockton have values over 100.
Jordan vs. James: Honors and awards
Others will argue that the way the game was or is played in any era can't be fully reflected in any set of statistics. The piles of awards and honors that Jordan and James have accumulatedtilt toward Jordan, but both are GOAT-worthy.
Edge: Jordan. He leads in four out of these six categories. Just how many moreawards would Jordan have accumulated if he had not taken a break for baseball or the Bulls had held their core together after their second threepeat?
Jordan vs. James: NBA championships
The GOAT discussion often concludes with who has helped their teamto the most championships.With Jordan and James, the comparison is, again, difficult.
Sure, Jordan never lost an NBA championship series in his six trips with the Chicago Bulls. His teams also never played a Game 7.
James, though, brought three organizationsto 10 series (eight consecutive) and won a championship for each team. Of course, it took a second tour with the Cavaliersto bring the NBA trophy to his home state.
Edge: Jordan. Two more championships and a more challenging task to build championship teams in Jordan's era – unlike the James era whenhe took his talents to Miami andteamed with All-Stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Can Team Jordan be converted to Team James?
There'sa lot of data points on either side, but James probably has a few more to make.
Jordan completed his résuméin 2009 when he took his place in the Basketball Hall of Fame. At 38, James is two years younger than Jordan was when he retired, and in interviews after Jamesbroke the scoring record, he sounded as if he still has unfinished business.
Two more championships? As NBA moves into the All-Star break, it appears a fifth championship might be out of his reachthis season:The Lakers are closer to a play-in spot than a top seed.
40,000 points?Even if James' 30-point per game scoring pace slows in the last 23 games of the season, he's on pace to finishthe season with more than 39,000 career points. That would likely put him less than a season away frombecoming the NBA's first 40,000-point scorer.
Playing with his son?Bronny James, a promising basketball player himself,is a high school senior andwon't be eligible for the NBA Draft until 2024.James wouldbe 40 years old just a few months into the 2024-25 season.
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