• Michael Jordan and LeBron James are two of the greatest basketball players to ever step foot on this planet. The debate of LeBron being the superior basketball player is complete and utter blasphemy. My colleague and dear friend Cade Kivisto has brainwashed readers with hypocritical words and rhetorical questions. I am going to prove why MJ is the greatest basketball player to ever set foot on the earth. 

The argument that LeBron is the better scorer than MJ is a complete delusion and lack of knowledge on his part. LeBron fans claim that LeBron is the better scorer because he has a better overall field goal percentage. LeBron James is 6’9” and 250 lbs. He shoots 47% of his shots within 10 feet of the basket. It is not LeBron’s fault that he is big, but he uses that advantage to overpower opponents in the paint. That does not mean he is the better ‘scorer.’ By that same ideology, if one is saying that because LeBron has a .07 better field goal percentage than MJ, that would mean Steven Adams is a better scorer than MJ because he has a career .591 field goal percentage. Now, how dull does that sound? Because someone shoots a majority of their shots in the paint does not mean they are the better scorer. Jordan could get a bucket on anyone, at any time and at any place on the court. Oh, and another thing, Jordan actually led the league in scoring 10 times. LeBron led the league in scoring once. Once. In Jordan’s best season, he averaged 37.1 points per game. In LeBron’s best season, he averaged 31 points per game. That is six points less than Jordan. Do not say LeBron is the better scorer than MJ when Jordan is the greatest scorer in the history of basketball. 

Another popular argument is that LeBron was a better defender than Michael Jordan. This could not be farther from the truth. Yes, again LeBron is 6’9”, so he has the ability to guard multiple positions. But do not let this fool readers. Defense has always been one of LeBron James’s weak points due to his lack of effort at times. When it comes to calculating defensive rating, a majority of the top of the list is owned by big men because they are taller and can defend the basket better. So this would mean LeBron would have a better rating, correct, because he is bigger, stronger, and the ‘more versatile player’? Wrong. Michael Jordan has the 113th best defensive rating of all time and ranks in the top 15 all-time for guards. LeBron James has the 149th best defensive rating of all time. That is 36 spots higher than MJ. But was he not the better defender? Also, Michael Jordan was the defensive player of the year in 1988. LeBron has never won a defensive player of the year award. MJ made the All-Defensive first team nine times in his career compared to LeBron’s five. Michael Jordan led the league in steals three times, while LeBron has never done that. MJ averaged the same amount of blocks per game as LeBron, despite being three inches shorter. So to say LeBron is the better defender because he had one incredible block in the finals is a completely hysterical argument. 

Another argument that people make is that LeBron is the more clutch performer because of how well he has performed in elimination games in the playoffs. That is a very good point, except there is one major flaw when talking about performance in elimination games. Michael Jordan was never in an elimination game in his career in the NBA Finals. Jordan has won six NBA titles in six appearances. He was never in an elimination game because he did not need them. He got his work done early and was never forced to a game seven in his career, so that just debunks the whole theory that Lebron was more clutch than MJ. Another big argument that LeBron fans love to make is that because LeBron came back from a 3-1 deficit against a 73 win team, that means he is the greater player. Jordan was the super team. His team in 1996 won a then NBA record 72 games and won the title. They did not have anyone to chase because they were the top dog. 

In the end, LeBron James is going to pass Michael Jordan and the rest of the NBA records with stats. This is unavoidable when one plays 20+ seasons. MJ only played 15 seasons in the NBA and is still the far more accomplished player. Michael Jordan is the better scorer and defender than LeBron. LeBron is the better passer and rebounder, but so is Russel Westbrook, and no one is saying he is the greatest player of all time. I will leave the readers with this. Jordan is a six-time NBA champion, while LeBron has four titles. Jordan has five MVPs, while LeBron has four. Jordan has six finals MVPs while LeBron has four. Michael Jordan changed the game of basketball as the world knows it today, and he is still – and forever will be – the greatest basketball player to ever step foot on this planet.