LeBron James’ Steph Curry comments prove why he’ll never be Michael Jordan

The GOAT debate is tired conversation with a myriad of useless sentiments and stances, pinning different eras, players and styles against each other. It’s impossible to judge how one player would succeed or fail in different eras and when the game was different. What isn’t impossible, though, is to predict player’s actions off the court.

Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan has established himself as a stone cold killer on the court and sort of a mysterious lone wolf off of is. Jordan is known for not befriending players he competed against during his time in the league, and even now he’s not that visible in NBA circles despite being a part owner.

LeBron James is different in that regard. He has gone out his way to get opposing players on his team, on his shows, and at his functions off the court. He’s not shy about recruiting players to play with him, sign with his agency, or take part in other business endeavors.

Most recently, James made it clear that he would love to play with his rival Steph Curry in an episode of “The Shop.”

Bulls legend Michael Jordan would’ve never vocalized what LeBron James does

James and Curry have played against each other in four NBA Finals, with James going 1-3 against Curry’s Warriors. The two would be an unstoppable duo no matter James’ age. This wouldn’t be the first time he either joined another star or even recruited another star to join him, either.

He left the Cleveland Cavaliers to team up with Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade in Miami. He left that duo to join Kyrie Irving and eventually recruited Kevin Love to the mix. He departed once more for Los Angeles and a young Lakers core of Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram before shipping that group out for Anthony Davis. And then, his grandest failure of all came last offseason when he helped recruit Russell Westbrook and others into the mix while letting other valuable players depart.

While it’s beyond comprehension how the move would happen given the Warriors’ core’s brotherhood — and the fact that Curry himself said that he’s good on teaming up with James — it isn’t beneath James to stack the cards that high. He’s shown that’s how he gets down.

Jordan wasn’t that type of player. MJ, love him or hate him, wasn’t going out of his way to recruit players to the Bulls, or even kick it with opposing stars. The most an opposing player could get out of Jordan was a game of Blackjack or golf — and that was just the competitor in him.

He was always focused on who was on the Bulls’ roster, lobbying for the general manager to get one or two role pieces and not stars like Dominique Wilkins or Kevin McHale. MJ was always confident in his ability to break an opposing team’s will, and that led him to a perfect record in the NBA Finals.

That is the difference between LBJ and MJ. James likes to have extensive backup with him. Whether that leads to high roster turnover rates or even tampering fines, so be it. MJ was a cocky assassin who would bet on himself before begging another star to help save the day.

Both are the same animal but a different beast … or whatever Kobe Bryant said.