Michael Jordan usurped in recent all-time NBA player rankings

If there is one thing fans of the Chicago Bulls know for certain, it’s that Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time, especially if they happened to be alive and around Chicago during the 1990’s. 

Of course, people who grew up in LA during the 1980’s might argue for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Magic Johnson, as every fanbase can make a case for why their all-time great is the GOAT. 

Comparing players from different eras has always been difficult, which is why arguments about who the “Best” player is rage on. 

The most recent candidate in the conversation is LeBron James, who just won a gold medal and is still going strong at 39 years old. 

The debate between Jordan and LeBron has raged online and continued in a recent article from HoopsHype where they ranked the top 78 players of all time. 

They bravely put LeBron James as #1, ahead of Michael Jordan, though did admit the vote required a tiebreaker. LeBron’s argument is only going to get stronger as he continues to pile up numbers and set records, so do Bulls fans finally have to admit that James is the GOAT? No chance. 

The best NBA career vs. the best player of all-time

If you want to talk about which NBA player has had the best career of all time, I don’t think there’s any doubt that it’s LeBron James. 

The man is a machine, who just keeps chugging along and is still a top 10-15 player while pushing 40. He’s already the league’s all-time leading scorer and is also 4th all time in assists and 30th in rebounds. 

If we are just talking stats and quality longevity, LeBron wins the argument, as there are few athletes in any professional sport who have maintained this level of play for this long. Consider that Lionel Messi, who is considered the goat of football (soccer) for some is two years YOUNGER than LeBron and has already been put out to pasture in Miami. Serena Williams is one of the few whose career rivaled LeBron's in terms of long-term greatness.

But Michael Jordan still has more rings, more MVPS, more Finals MVPs and made a larger cultural impact than any player in NBA history, including LeBron. 

He made a million clutch shots, and is undoubtedly one of the few guys you would choose to have the ball in his hands in a do-or-die situation. His tenacity and competitiveness were unmatched. 

It’s also fair to wonder if the Bulls would have won two more titles had Jordan not played baseball for a year (Kenny Smith doesn’t think so), but hypotheticals don’t count toward his case. 

LeBron is going to end up at the top of a lot of these lists in future years as he continues to rack up accolades, but Bulls fans will always choose Jordan, and until LeBron wins another title or two, the argument is there.