Who’s the greatest player ever, Michael Jordan or LeBron James?
This question has been going around like a spinning top for years, and it likely never will stop. James, who has played for the Cavaliers (twice), Heat and Lakers, is a transcendent superstar. He’s 40 and in his 22nd season. He has won four NBA championships, been named Finals MVP four times, won four regular-season MVPs and is a 13-time All-NBA first-team selection. And, yes, he has scored the most points in NBA history, fast approaching 42,000.
At 6-9 and 250 pounds (at least), he is a strong man who is more like an NFL tight end than a ballerina. His game isn’t pretty or graceful; it’s overpowering and elite, with blended shooting touch, body control, court vision and brute force.
James was named to his 21st All-Star Game this year but didn’t play because of a nagging ankle injury. Yet he’s going strong this season, averaging nearly 35 minutes a game and 24.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and nine assists. That’s terrific for any age. For a guy who’s been playing since 50 Cent’s ‘‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’ ’’ debuted, it’s astounding.
LeBron’s first NBA season, 2003-04, came just after Jordan played his last game, having finished his experiment with the Wizards the previous spring by averaging a career-low 20 points. The two never officially played against each other, though I remember watching a not-quite-17-year-old LeBron, still in high school, go against Jordan and other NBA players in private scrimmages at Hoops the Gym on Randolph Street in 2001.
Jordan was a madman in those pickup games, viciously plotting his comeback from his second retirement, destroying everyone, while James was just a crazily talented kid still evolving.
James might be the greatest ever, better than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Bill Russell, Kobe Bryant, Larry Bird. But there are caveats. For instance, James isn’t a 7-foot center, like all-time rebounds leader Wilt Chamberlain, or a 6-1 point guard, like career assists leader John Stockton.
Maybe more telling is the fact he hasn’t won an MVP award since 2013 and certainly won’t win one this season. Not playing in the All-Star Game on Sunday, after 20 consecutive starts, was likely an indication that Father Time is tapping LeBron on the shoulder, whispering in his ear.
Can James play until he’s 45? Absolutely, provided the knockout that finishes him doesn’t come.
Which brings us to Jordan, who hasn’t played in 22 years. What are his claims to the GOAT throne?
Start with being a 14-time All-Star, a 10-time All-NBA first-team member, a nine-time All-Defensive first-team member, a record 10 NBA scoring titles and five regular-season MVP awards. Then the cherries on top: six NBA championships and six Finals MVPs.
You can pile on the stats for either player, if you want. Great for talk shows, barroom shouting matches. But, like any impossible debate, it comes down to intangibles, to feel. What did it look like?
And what you saw in Jordan was a ferociousness beyond mere tenacity or drive. It was a barely controlled nastiness that sprang from some deeply harbored desire never to be embarrassed, never to have anybody, as he would tell me, ‘‘make his name off of me.’’ Flopping, a la LeBron these days? Never.
You probably saw highlights from the All-Star slam-dunk contest Saturday, with lunatic Mac McClung jumping over a car for the title. LeBron never entered a dunk contest. Not once in his career. He told NBA insider Rachel Nichols this year, ‘‘There’s no part of me that has regrets about not doing it.’’
Jordan, on the other hand, won it twice, with legendary bounds. He told me early in his Bulls career that he was pondering a new dunk, just dreaming.
‘‘I’d need three basketballs,’’ he said. ‘‘I’d palm one, put one under my arm, and then palm the other. I’d leave from halfcourt, and when I got close, I’d throw the one ball up, then I’d snatch the ball from under my arm and dunk it, dunk the other ball and then dunk the third as it’s coming down. I think it could be done. You’d need perfect timing. But even if I missed, I should get an 11 or 12.’’
Confident? Cocky? Capable? Yes, yes and yes.
And maybe that’s the difference.