After 40,000 regular season NBA points and counting, can we officially crown LeBron James as the greatest NBA player of all time?
I know some of you will argue for Michael Jordan, who has long been regarded as the GOAT, but hear me out. First, let’s find some common ground. Can we agree that James has surpassed Larry Bird? Wilt Chamberlain? Magic Johnson? Bill Russell? Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? Kobe Bryant?
The GOAT argument is made in every sport, from boxing to golf, and you can hear debates in barbershops, playgrounds, bars, living rooms, and on sports talk shows across the nation. Why do we argue about who’s the best? Well, for starters, it’s fun.
The “Jordan vs. James” debate will only continue to gain steam as James continues to dominate players nearly half his age and racks up more milestones playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. Yet my argument that James deserves the crown centers on what has done on and off the court, as opposed to Jordan.
Michael Jordan had been uncontested GOAT for more than decade
Let’s talk about Jordan, the man who put Nike on the map and had been the undisputed king. I’ve seen him live at the Bradley Center and watched him win a dunk contest; worn his shoes; watched “Space Jam” a dozen times and seen him hit countless buzzer-beaters. I’ve watched him in all his commercials and have his jerseys, cards, and other memorabilia.
Last February, James passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the No. 1 spot on the NBA’s all-time regular-season scoring list, and earlier this month he became the first NBA player to score 40,000 career points before a sold-out Lakers crowd.
James, 39, is the oldest player in the NBA but continues to produce at an elite level, averaging 25 points per game.
What makes James even more remarkable is this stat: of the 4,862 players who have played in an official NBA game through November 2023, only 10 players have appeared in at least 20 NBA seasons. That’s 0.002%, according to Stathead.com.
This makes James not only a GOAT but a King.
On court statistics don’t lie in making the case for LeBron James
There’s a saying in sports that statistics don’t lie, and if we follow that rule, James dribbled past Jordan a while ago. This may be hard for most to accept, and it’s hard for me to take, but it's true.
Most who still view Jordan as the best will site his six rings, which include two three-peats. That’s a phenomenal feat but rings alone don’t make you the GOAT.
If it came down to rings, Boston Celtics great Bill Russell would be the GOAT with 11 rings. While it could be argued that Russell is one of the all-time greats, his teammate, Sam Jones, has 10 rings, but his name has never come up in the “greatest” conversation.
James has four rings but leads Jordan in nearly every other statistic.
Jordan leads in points, averaging 30.1 to 27.1, but James beats Jordan in rebounds, 7.5 to 6.2; assists, 7.4 to 5.3; field goal percentages, 50.5 to 49.7; and 3-point percentages, 34.7 to 32.7.
James also played in 400 more regular season games. He outscored Jordan by more than 8,000 points and has more than 4,300 more rebounds. And while Jordan was a talented scorer, James is one of the best facilitators the game has ever seen, with nearly 11,000 assists to Jordan’s 5,633. Sharing is caring.
Jordan’s teammate, Scottie Pippen, called Jordan “a horrible player” before the Bulls became “a team.”
"He was all one-on-one, he was shooting bad shots, and, all of a sudden, we become a team, and we start winning, and everyone forgot who he was," Pippen said in a May 2023 interview.
Pippen added that James beats Jordan easily when it comes to statistics.
"There’s no comparison. None. Does that make him the greatest player to ever play the game? I’ll leave that up for debate because I don’t believe there’s a great player because our team is a team game. One player can’t do it,” Pippen said.
Off the court, James has much bigger impact than Jordan
Being the GOAT is more than what a person does athletically; it’s what they do outside of the sport. Muhammad Ali isn’t great just because he beat some of the greatest fighters of his era. He’s the greatest because he used his boxing platform to advocate for racial and social justice.
James also uses his star power to speak out. In 2018, he called out then-President Donald Trump for being out of touch and called some of his policies “laughable and scary." Fox News host Laura Ingraham called James' comments “ignorant" and told James and told him to keep his political comments, and, infamously, to "shut up and dribble.”
Yet even in the face of intense pushback, James hasn't backed down. I wish more athletes spoke out about injustices in America. Jordan, on the other hand, remained silent for most of his career on issues related to racism and social injustice. It wasn’t until 2016 that he finally spoke out about police shootings.
James is living true American Dream with businesses, foundation
James’ story is a true American dream. He was born in Akron, Ohio, to a 16-year-old single mother and an absentee father. He didn’t become a statistic. Instead, he turned pro out of high school and went on to co-found a media and entertainment company. He owns stakes in professional baseball and soccer teams and founded The LeBron James Family Foundation, which provides school supplies and bikes to hundreds of children.
He also started the "I Promise School" in his hometown of Akron in 2018. He said opening the school has been his most important professional accomplishment. The school has had mixed reviews from critics. Black students tested in the bottom 5% of all Black students in Ohio, and 15 of the 50 teachers have resigned in the past two years; James and others said it will take time to turn things around.
One supporter said success does not happen overnight; many kids start two to three years behind. However, if the school succeeds, the students are guaranteed admittance to the University of Akron. With James leading the way, I have no doubt the students and the school will be an MVP.
James is also a proud husband and dad. He married Savannah Brinson, his high school sweetheart, in 2013. The couple has three children: LeBron “Bronny” James, Bryce Maximus, and Zhuri.
Bronny and Bryce aspire to play in the NBA with their dad one day. For that to happen, James must play two to three more years. The prospect of that alone adds a dimension Jordan and others can't match. In the meantime, James will knock down a few more records to add to his GOAT status.
ReachJames E. Causeyatjcausey@jrn.com; follow him on X@jecausey.
