Chicago Bulls: LeBron has more career MVP voting shares than Jordan

The Chicago Bulls no longer have the career leader in total MVP voting shares, an honor now bestowed upon LeBron James of the LA Lakers.

The constant GOAT debate between the Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James and the Chicago Bulls legendary shooting guard Michael Jordan is one that really raged on throughout the pause in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic. With no basketball for months back in spring and early summer, fans had to turn to things like re-runs and “The Last Dance” for entertainment around this sport.

But basketball is now back, and the NBA season is firmly in the midst of the conference finals heading into the weekend. This weekend, the five-seed and upset-minded Miami Heat continue to battle it out with the three-seed Boston Celtics. And the three-seed and fellow upset-minded team Denver Nuggets will try and take down the top-seeded Lakers, and LeBron, in the Western Conference Finals.

Now that basketball is back, we don’t have to focus as much on the GOAT debate between LeBron and Jordan. But it is still fun and constantly thought-provoking to discuss. As LeBron’s career evolves heading into his late 30’s, the argument also becomes more and more valid and clear.

Since the MVP honors were released on Sep. 18, we have another point to the LeBron vs. Jordan argument. While LeBron didn’t take home the MVP honors this year (with Giannis Antetokounmpo getting the award for the second straight year), he did surpass Jordan in one key category.

Jordan has now apparently (per NBC Sports report and Basketball-Reference) been surpassed by LeBron in career MVP voting shares. Now a good portion of the reason why that is comes from the fact that Jordan had some hiatuses during his playing days in the NBA. And he also just didn’t play as many seasons as LeBron did.

Jordan was an All-Star and usually an MVP contender (if not the actual award winner) in all the seasons he played in the NBA. But that was only 14, compared to 17 already for LeBron.

LeBron is now a four-time MVP, 16-time All-Star selection, and three-time NBA Champion. Meanwhile, Jordan was a 14-time All-Star selection, five-time MVP, and six-time NBA Champion. LeBron is just one MVP award away from tying Jordan’s mark.

Somehow, LeBron was able to come in second in the MVP voting shares this year behind Giannis. He finished ahead of other players with more win shares per 48 minutes and a better box plus/minus rating such as Damian Lillard, James Harden, Luka Doncic, Anthony Davis, etc. in the voting shares.

Jordan previously topped the list for most MVP voting shares in league history. But LeBron has now surpassed the likes of Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, etc. in this category for best of all-time in MVP voting shares.