As long as the argument exists, you can choose your fighter and state your case. Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James: Playoff advanced stats Jordan is the all-time playoff leader in PER and Box Plus/Minus, and he has the highest usage percentage. This article is the ultimate greatest NBA player of all-time debate between Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James, with facts and stats. Brooklyn’s supporting cast can also score. His legacy and greatness are forever linked with a single coach and a singular system. But that’s off topic. That’s the point. Sneakers are one of the biggest ways that a professional athlete can enhance their cultural impact. The thing about evolution is, it keeps going. Year 17, and the world keeps waiting for #WashedKing to show up, and then he goes and posts career-high assists in career-low minutes, and the argument evolves again. The coach, the system, and even the Robin to his Batman have all proven flexible; success and failure have increasingly come on his terms, wherever and with whomever he deemed the right fit at the time. An acronym so overused it barely merits a mention here, but for the record, yes: Greatest of All Time. Jordan has a small edge in postseason steals, LeBron … Only LeBron is still active—and not just active, not simply playing out the string like so many of the greats do. Jordan might still be the guy you’d want taking the last shot; LeBron might be the guy you’d want starting and playing 44 minutes in a Game 7. The numbers suggest it’s the case, given Brooklyn’s historic offensive efficiency. Something has to pull an idea out of the ooze and lift it into the light, to make it a thing people can see and hear, ponder and take sides on. Then came 2009 and 2010, back-to-back MVP awards, an accumulation of accomplishment far behind the dreams of most players’ careers, let alone a guy who was just 25. Stay up to date on the latest basketball news with our curated email newsletters. Call it ring chasing if you want, but the rings weren’t there until he brought them. Winning it all this season would cut that gap in half for James and arguably push him past the Chicago Bulls legend in the GOAT conversation. NBA legend and analyst Reggie Miller puts an end to the age-old Lebron James vs. Michael Jordan GOAT debate. Only LeBron can change the facts of the argument—that’s true enough. Before it can evolve, of course, it has to exist. It’s time for the most passionate, engaged basketball fans on the planet—if you’re reading these words in this magazine, that’s you pretty much by default—to recognize the impossibility of a debate that crosses eras and styles and a thousand other variables, and to accept that impossibility as a blessing. The Nets have the best odds to win this year’s championship. What if LEBRON & JORDAN played 1v1?! let's finally settle this debate! The accumulation continues, a man climbing so many lists of career achievement that it starts to seem unfair. And what sets LeBron apart, at least for this moment, is that he’s still going, even as no one else in the argument is. If you want to have this kind of argument, leave LeBron James out of it and insert Kobe Bryant. Jordan boasts unprecedented clout as a product pitchman and LeBron has the reach via social justice and good deeds done through youth programs back home in Akron. BEST of 7 SERIES for the title of G.O.A.T.!! 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