Through the age of 31, LeBron James has accomplished more than Michael Jordan did through his 19 year career. The question thats been roaming around the air for quite awhile now iswho was better at it? They are more than confident in being the best on the court. Of those, only LeBron James and Dirk Nowitzki the sixth-highest scorer all time are still playing. Through Michael Jordans athletic success on the court, he was able to make himself and his brand into a cultural icon, which had a great impact on the game of basketball, fashion, marketing, and the economy in America. As always, he was a physical specimen, but he was a far cry from his prime when he averaged 18.2 points and 12.9 rebounds from 1992 through 1995 for Atlanta and Miami. At 40, his playing time was below 30 minutes nightly and he was getting up only 11.3 shots, about half what he averaged in his 20s. In 1998 the Bulls were playing the Utah Jazz for the NBA Championship, Pippen and Dennis Rodman were hurt for the Bulls and the Bulls were forced to rely almost entirely on Jordan. Its pretty cool. Some might say it is Michael Jordan, but currently some people might argue it is actually Lebron James, who is the greatest player of all time. Look back at Wilt Chamberlain's legendary NBA career. Both came to the NBA out of high school, both have been very high place since those early years, and made a huge impact on the league. But he did average 6.5 points in 18.1 minutes in that span of 393 games. BPM, VORP, handedness not available for WNBA. Ive failed over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed (MJ). On your television. But it doesn't matter what we say. VORP and Win Shares favor James, but PER and Box Plus/Minus go to Jordan. This shows us that Jordan was dominating the league, while other players were just as dominate as Kobe was. Not surprisingly, two all-world performers in the regular season have also been dominant in the postseason. The gap in total numbers will widen as long as James stays healthy, and he doesn't appear to be slowing down at age 38. However, Jordan has been much more loved by the fans than LeBron. Join us for a March Madness Webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 8pm ET. Jordan cannot be called the same. The gap between him and the No. That included 30.0 ppg in seven summer contests in the Orlando bubble in the virus lockdown season. Their names are all over the NBA record books in just about every category. As stated by ESPN.com (2016) Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry is the reigning two-time MVP and a reigning NBA champion, but he has no interest in whether he or Cleveland's LeBron James is considered the "face of the NBA, Curry says. Six championships. LeBron vs. Jordan. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting. Miami Heats and Chicago Bulls have had many MVP players, these two players contribute the most to their team's success is LeBron with the Miami Heats and Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls. Ageless? Both players had long, high-scoring careers: Malone retired at 40, Abdul-Jabbar at 42. As previously mentioned, James is currently averaging 30.2PPG in his 20th season. Per 36 minutes this season, his 15.2 scoring wasnt much off his 19.4 pro-rated rate nine years earlier. Over 14 games, James is averaging 34.7 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.3 Jordans Bulls were favored to win all six times they reached the Finals, but James teams were the betting underdog seven of 10 times. Hes great at baiting the defense and making plays for his teammates. One reason is because of Jordans NBA finals stats. Michael Jordan may have retired, but he still a 5 time MVP trophy winner, he also been in 6 championship games. It was all identical but not the same(P//5). Like James, Bryant missed very little time to injury until the end of his career, even playing with a fractured finger for most of a season. Michael Jordan was six and zero in the National Basketball Association finals, but he did not have the productivity like LeBron James did. TRB% since 1970-71. (6:40). The Jordan vs. LeBron debate even rages among former NBA players -- and the answer isn't divided as cleanly along generational lines as you might think. James recently missed 18 games due to a strained groin muscle the longest break of his career. The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Even though Lebron and Jordan are compared a lot, many people still think Jordan would beat LeBron head to, They are both the heart of their teams and they are the ones their teams build around bringing players in that will help them and the team win. Previously, he was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated covering the NBA. Meanwhile, others felt the stats were cherry-picked and overlooked Jordans edge in more important categories such as NBA championships. Among 27-year-olds, Chamberlain (36.9 in 1963-64) and Bryant (35.4 in 2005-06) were too far behind Baylors pace. When most people think about Michael Jordan, they think about him as the greatest basketball player who ever played. Jordan has 38 career 40-point games in the playoffs and eight 50-point games (including his NBA playoff-record 63). Take a closer look at some of the impactful activations hosted by the Kings during Black History Month. Photo: KevinMazur. However, no players have been debated more than Michael Jordan and Lebron James. AST% since 1964-65. They are the most popular players of their time, maybe the most popular in history. This has James on pace to set the NBA record by a wide margin. A current star has complicated that GOAT (greatest of all time) conversation, of course. Malone at 39 averaged 36.2 minutes, scored 20 or more 48 times and had 21 double-doubles and one triple-double. Guys were smoking cigarettes at halftime in his early days.. Look back at Karl Malone's legendary NBA career. Jordan and Lebron, Mike and the King, have been exalted above all other players, repeatedly for their superior play and championship drive. Jordan left college after his junior year to join the NBA. Over James first five seasons in the league, he averaged 27.3 points on 46.7% shooting (32.4% on threes) while putting up 21.1 shots nightly. When it came to reliability at the line, Jordan (83.5 percent) clearly outpaced James (73.7 percent). The debate rages on. James has not yet claimed a steals title. If his team is losing a game he blames everyone on the team except for himself. As stated by ESPN.com (2016) Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry is the reigning two-time MVP and a reigning NBA champion, but he has no interest in whether he or Cleveland's LeBron James is considered the "face of the NBA, Curry says. Ask to see his feet. It's the never-ending debate among today's NBA fans: Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James. Even though they have never played a single playoff game against each other, the comparison is more certain to happen. The key difference is three-point shooting. Two months out from his 38th birthday, 19 days since setting the NBA's all-time scoring record and a week from a record-tying 19th All-Star appearance, LeBron James is still giving Father Time a game for the ages. That site uses Jan. 31 as the cutoff date to classify a players age. Data runs from 1946-47 to present unless otherwise noted. For his efforts there, Jordan received the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. Wilt Chamberlain, 1960-61 38.4 ppg. If I needed two points to win a title, Id take Jordan, said Bruce Bowen, an eight-time all-defensive team selection who played in the NBA from 1997 to 2009. He would get the bucket or get free throws. Before coming to The Post, he was Deputy Director of Data Visualization at the Los Angeles Times and an alum of the L.A. Times Data Desk. Hed read newspapers on road trips looking for something to fuel his fire. Now the question Im gonna answer is who is better between Jordan and Kareem. Both LeBron and MJ won Rookie of the Year for their respective teams. He just punished you.. J Irving are just a few of those with the careers to back this title. pointers and free throws for the top five scorers in NBA history. Didnt matter much, though, given the Lakers other weapons he got his sixth championship and L.A. earned its fifth of the decade. I have research and know from a personal view that Kobe Bryant is a better basketball player than Michael Jordan. He challenged himself to score eight points each quarter so that he could get to 32 for the night. Age: 59 years old as of April 2022. Even after Michael Jordan left his team they were still successful, as for LeBron leaving Cleveland well things were not looking good for the Cavs. The LeBron James kindergarten photo controversy. Jordan had the drive and edge over his opponents to win games. A key example of LeBrons failure to lead a team is during the 2015 NBA finals. (That's a term of endearment.). This one probably merits an asterisk, because the New Orleans strongman only played in 24 games his first season. This season marked the sixth of Chamberlains seven straight scoring titles. Could 45,000 be in play? James' recent scoring run has brought his season averages up to 30.2PPG, 8.5RPG and 7.1APG on 50.5% shooting. Design and development by Virginia Singarayar. He is the only player in NBA finals history to never score less than 20 points in any of his finals games. The two are very confident in their abilities. James is set to pass Abdul-Jabbars all-time scoring record (38,387 career points) over the next week in what will be a major accomplishment. And here's the big one. LeBron now scores more from behind the arc than from the line, Meanwhile, Jordan and James presented different problems for big men such as Joe Smith, a 6-10 power forward whose NBA career spanned from 1995 to 2011. Similarly, Johnson praised Jamess key evolutions throughout his career: honing his three-point shooting, mastering his responses to various defensive schemes, and varying his teams style of play to get the most out of his teammates. Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James, the great(est) debate of our time, is finally put to rest by the Harvard and Yale debate teams. Malone had 43 double-doubles while leading Utah to 55 victories, with no one else on the roster averaging more than 14.1 points. 5 spot with 32,292. LeBron James is far from finished. Over 14 games, James is averaging 34.7 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game on 51. Kevin has a very calm and relaxed attitude in games. LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan: How their, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan: How their careers compare, LeBron James might miss weeks, but Lakers say its no excuse in playoff chase, Lakers pile up turnovers in loss to Ja Morant, Grizzlies, Report: Lakers LeBron James could miss weeks with foot injury. Last, the most significant difference in these two athletes is their game attitude. LeBron does not have the dominance of Michael Jordan. After 15 years in the NBA, Jordan finished his career with 5,633 career assists, while after only 13 years in the. If the more dominate player already isnt clear, its Michael, Who is the greatest basketball player of all time? Jordan carried the Bulls on his back and won a NBA championship, something LeBron James has not done. ESPN's NBA expert panel voted on thousands of head-to-head matchups, taking into consideration both total career value and peak performance. On March 28th, 2003 the ultimate rivalry took place between Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Kobe has 5 championships, and out of those 5 he was the MVP of two of them (2007-08). TRB% since 1970-71. This all of course culminated in a GOAT debate. In conclusion, LeBron James is statistically a better player when it comes to all-around basketball. However, Michael Jordan was a much better scorer. He won more on the biggest stage, but failed often in the playoffs and rarely beat some of his greatest opponents. James played with better teammates than Jordan did. Look back at Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's legendary NBA career. He wasnt able to singlehandedly drag the Los Angeles Lakers into the postseason. 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