Two of the greatest basketball players ever to play the game. The debate always surrounds “who is better” or “who is the greatest basketball player ever”. This distinction is widely glossed over yet is a very important one to clarify before attempting to make this comparison. Another important assumption being made is we are comparing both players’ entire career, which means Lebron still has many years left to play and means this debate is subject to change. Additionally, basketball is a TEAM sport and thus we must consider the players on their respective teams and those team successes and failures.

My now that we’ve established we are discussing greatest not best player and the career assumption, I am going to define the important criteria I am using to judge a great player. I want to emphasize this is my opinion of important criteria for defining the greatest player. These are as follow: accolades, competition, teammates, statistics, and intangibles.

How do we measure the competition?

Simple. Let’s look at the number of teams each faced in the Playoffs who have more than 50 wins.

Jordan beat 20 teams, while James beat 15 teams. So we can see that Jordan’s path to the finals was more difficult than LeBron’s especially since the Eastern conference was the much tougher in the 90s than the 2010s. Here is the total number of wins in head-to-head matchups between the two conferences. The East has only won more games in one of LeBron’s 14 seasons.

Clearly, we can see that the term “LeastERN” conference most definitely applies in the case during the years when LeBron’s era. Competition wise, Jordan played in a more difficult conference and had a more difficult road to the finals. Next, we must acknowledge the supporting cast for both players.

Jordan's All Star Squad:

• Scottie Pippen (6x)

Jordan's Hall of Fame Teammates:

• Scottie Pippen

• Dennis Rodman

Michael Jordan played on some of the greatest teams ever in history with a supporting cast of Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and a hall of fame coach Phil Jackson. LeBron on the other hand played with all-stars Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Coach Spoelstra with Pat Riley as president. The biggest difference is that LeBron played with more All Stars (13 years total for Lebron’s squad compared to 6 for Scottie Pippen). I would say that LeBron has had the better supporting cast during each of their respective careers. Jordan’s teams I would say at their peaks were better than the best LeBron’s teams but overall, LeBron has played with a better team in general.

Statistics, most people look at each stat individually and compare them out right. I look at them a bit different. Since the playoffs is the ultimate goal and where the competition is greatest and the stakes are greatest, I look at how each player’s stats change between the regular season to playoffs. I would argue that Jordan elevated his game and had better stats than LeBron. But, it’s very close, this is probably a wash.

Finally, Intangibles, here I look at what people call “killer instinct” or “clutchness”. To really analyze this we need to take a look at the point when basketball plays are the most crucial: (1) playoff games only, (2) go-ahead or game-tying shot attempts (no free throws), and (3) final 24 seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime. The crème de le crème of basketball, as Stephen A. Smith says, “when palms are sweaty and backsides get tight, who can bring us to the promise land”. Now that we have the parameters set, let’s take a look at the numbers. Jordan was 9-18 for his career in my version of “clutch time”. Kobe attempted more clutch shots (25) but he only hit 7 (28%) which is why when people say Kobe is as clutch as Jordan, I just laugh. In fact, only 4 players managed to hit 50% of their clutch attempts so far (Ray Allen, Michael Finley, Tayshaun Prince, and Robert Horry). None of them attempted more than 12 such shots! Lebron actually hit 7-of-16 clutch shots with 43.8%! Which is significantly higher than the league average of 28.3% but not 50% that Jordan had. Case closed; Jordan was more clutch than LeBron in our example. I mean this was a no brainer.

Conclusion

Accolades (MJ won 7-of-10, this may flip to LeBron as his career continues) competition (MJ - Jordan had tougher opponents) , teammates (MJ - LeBron played with more better teammates), statistics (Tie) , and intangibles (MJ). Through my analysis, Michael Jordan (4-of-5) is unequivocally a greater basketball player than LeBron James, and anyone else quite frankly.

Taking a step back from the statics and numbers, the debate of “greatest player” means every little detail is scrutinized. Jordan always played his heart out on the floor and never had any dark spots on his resume. LeBron’s biggest indictment is his falling out from Cleveland and his horrific loss to the Dallas Mavericks where LeBron scored only 8 points in game 4. Unlike LeBron, Jordan played with the same Bulls that drafted him through two retirements and said he wanted to make the Bulls into a respectable franchise like the Lakers and the Celtics and he did just that. Jordan never needed to join another super-star or left a franchise high and dry, Jordan’s loyalty to the Bulls and winning was unquestionable. He was disciplined, hardworking, and a straight up killer. He pushed his teammates and everybody around him hard because he knew the cost to win. Jordan always had that and that’s why he’s the greatest.

In the end, it’s very difficult to measure greatness and there are many ingredients which go into the equation. These are the major factors I consider to be important to determine the “GOAT”. What are some key points I missed? Let me know!