My take on the GOAT debate [View all]

It seems like Jordan vs. LeBron will be debated until the end of time. My personal GOAT is Michael, but I'm not going to be offended if your GOAT is LeBron.

I will, however, be offended, at nonsensical arguments in the GOAT debate.

What do I mean by that?

Will, from a LeBron fan account on Twitter:

LeBron won 2 titles without Wade
LeBron won 2 titles without Bosh
LeBron won 3 titles without Kyrie
LeBron won 3 titles without Love
LeBron won 3 titles without AD

MJ won 1 playoff game without Pippen

Another tweet from the same account:

MJ won 0 titles without Pippen
MJ won 0 titles without Phil
Kobe won 0 titles without Phil

LeBron won 0 titles without who?

There's not a player or coach you can name, that makes that statement true.

That's why LeBron is the 🐐

LeBron won two championships with Chris Bosh, a Hall of Famer, and Dwyane Wade, a member of the NBA 75 Team. LeBron won a title with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love, at least, if not both, who could be enshrined in the Hall of Fame someday. LeBron won a championship with Anthony Davis, who is going to be a Hall of Famer and was named to the NBA 75 Team.

If you want to look at somebody who won a championship without a Hall of Famer, I point to Hakeem Olajuwon in 1994, I point to Giannis in 2021 - who most likely won't have had someone from that team make the Hall of Fame. Ben Wallace did without any Hall of Fame teammates, though many argue Chauncey Billups should be in the Hall of Fame. Those three championship teams are exceptions to the rule because basketball is a team game and the NBA Championship is usually won by multiple superstars/Hall of Famers.

So no, Michael didn't do it all by himself, but let's not pretend LeBron did.

If you want to argue LeBron for the GOAT, argue his longevity, his scoring record, his four Finals MVPs with three different teams in a strong and competitive era while being denied even more rings by some Golden State super teams in 2017 and 2018, look at what he had to work with in 2007 and 2018 and still reached the Finals and was still going strong to take a team to the Conference Finals in his 20th season. That is amazing. While Michael was still great with the Wizards, he wasn't doing what LeBron did this past season with the Lakers and if he was the best player on the Wizards at that time, they weren't competitive.

If you want to dismiss Jordan's era and competition for GOAT, don't forget Magic was First-Team All-NBA in 1991, and was NBA MVP the season before. Don't forget Clyde Drexler was Top 50 and Top 75, don't forget Charles Barkley was the NBA MVP that season in addition to 50 and 75, don't forget Gary Payton was Top 75, don't forget Karl Malone was NBA MVP in 1997 in addition to Top 50 and Top 75, don't forget John Stockton also was Top 50 and Top 75.

So, Jordan beat at least one superstar, one all-time great in the Finals he went 6-0 in and beat the NBA MVP in two of those Finals - two threepeats, six Finals MVPs, took a break in between his father's death and baseball, motivated himself like no other after losing to the Magic, then came the second three-peat.

Not only did Michael never lose, he never made it to a Game 7. LeBron had to play two Game 7s in two of his rings he won, as impressive as 2016 was. And while 2007, 2017 and 2018 could be excused, 2011 cannot, not after blowing a 2-0 lead and scoring eight points in a Finals game.

In his rookie season, Michael made the playoffs, LeBron did not. In his second season, LeBron missed the playoffs, while Michael went into the Boston Garden and dropped 63 points on the eventual NBA Champions, a team considered one of the greatest of all-time, and that's after missing most of his second season due to injury.

And on the other hand, I see a video on Twitter arguing LeBron is not top 50, not top 100 all-time. I talked about this with someone last year who would take many people, including Rick Barry, over LeBron all-time, and I've seen No. 1 LeBron hater Skip Bayless put LeBron at No. 9 all-time when he should be No. 2 at the worst, in my opinion.

If that's too long for you, if you didn't read, I'll put it in short: I don't care if your GOAT is Michael, I don't care if your GOAT is LeBron, but whatever your position is, please don't use ridiculous arguments to back up your opinion.