Lebron James was crowned the new king of scoring in NBA history, this is no small feat and should be celebrated. But that’s where it ends, to make the argument he is the GOAT is not only laughable but also not knowing the history of the game.
Ask yourself this question. if you were picking an all-time team and all the players were in their prime and had first pick you would honestly pick James? The guy with the second pick would be static to end up with Jordan. Jordan not only played in an era where the games rules were firmly on the side of defense, he also made every guy around him better. He never handpicked players to run alongside him, he took what was given him and ran with it and kept a number of HOF players from winning a championship.
James plays in an era when you can take 4 steps, if a hard foul is given guys get ejected, and don’t get me started on rest days. Jordan never rested, was always available, and pushed everyone around him to be great. He never made a “decision” into a TV special, and he is the main reason the NBA is global, and these players now are making the money they do.
I have the utmost respect for James’s game, but we tend to forget he is the same guy in his first finals folded in the spotlight and left the court with his tail between his legs. Would Jordan have ever done that, how about Kobe, Bird, Magic, and so on. Leaders are GOATS not individuals and stats on winning teams, Russell Westbrook was a triple double machine doing everything for years and he was never mentioned in this regard, that is why Jordan will always be the greatest of all time in basketball and possibly all sports.
Numbers in sports will blind you from seeing the simple eye test.
