LeBron Deserves to be Crowned “the G.O.A.T”
Coming straight out of high school to the NBA, LeBron James has made a huge name for himself in the basketball scene. Many think that LeBron has earned the “G.O.A.T” status due to his stats, accolades, and overall court presence; others think that Michael Jordan is the “G.O.A.T” over him and sometimes even Kobe. LeBron deserves to be crowned the “Greatest of All Time” over any player in the NBA.
LeBron is the all time leading scorer, and is top 10 in almost every stat. He has 4 rings, 4 finals MVPs, and 20 all-star appearances so far. He’s played for 21 seasons now and counting. He is 40 years old and still averages a little over 20/5/5. He’s in first place for points all time, top 30 in rebounds all time, top 5 in assists, and has won 64% of his playoff series.
Even though Jordan is known as a better scorer, Jordan isn’t above LeBron on the all time leading scoring list, is he really a better scorer than LeBron? What about everything else that matters to the game? NBA fans can hear about LeBron’s scoring, see his defense, and you can hear stories about his amazing playmaking through his past teammates and opponents but what’s better is that he’s been doing this since he came in the league. LeBron has been a consistent 25/7/7 player his whole career. Even through the many changes the league has had LeBron has shown that he can still dominate no matter the era.
Nobody can play as long as LeBron with the way he plays. You see a lot of players slow down by 34-35 and mostly retire at 36 if they’re good enough to stay in the league that long. Some players hold on until they are unplayable, such as Shaq, Kobe, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jordan when he came back to the league to play for the Wizards. LeBron is the most versatile player of all time. He plays small forward but you often see him running point guard, with his size he can guard every position, he’s too fast for big men, he’s too strong and big for guards, and he’s too good for the forwards in the league. He’s so good he took the Cavs team that went 17-65 to the playoffs and finals in his first run with them, he went to Miami and won 2 championships, went back to the Cavs and led them to have their historic 3-1 comeback in the finals against the greatest team of all time in the 73-9 Warriors, and then he went to the Lakers and won another championship in the bubble, which NBA players that were in it say, was the hardest one to win.
LeBron has never had a good coach outside of his run with Miami, and with JJ Redick so far, but he has had to switch how he plays for every team, every time it worked out beautifully because of how good LeBron is.
LeBron is known as one of the greatest teammates you can have. You can also see him help communities, children, and other teammates off the court. He has built the I PROMISE school which gives out free tuition, meals, and family support. He also has The LeBron James Family Foundation. LeBron has shown his concerns on black issues on more than one occasion. He is very outspoken when it comes to problems the community faces. NBA players have said he’s a better role model and teammate than Jordan.
His dominance is also shown in his nicknames. One of his nicknames is “LeBronto” because of how dominant he is against the Raptors in the playoffs. He is the reason leagues have better teams instead of just 1 to 2 good players and a bunch of role players. LeBron pointed this out to reporters in his 14th season saying, “I always hear them saying, ‘We gotta beat LeBron.’ It’s not just me on the court, but I understand that teams get together in this conference and across the league to try to beat me.”
During times where the game gets close or towards the end of the game, LeBron has shown to make the right decisions whether it be to pass to the open man, which he gets a lot of negativity for, take the last shot, or make a great defensive play that’ll change the outcome of the game.
Overall, LeBron has had better individual success in his career than Jordan. Without Scottie Pippen, Jordan was 1-9 in playoff games while LeBron has almost won every playoff series even without notable teammates. Although Jordan has more rings than him it doesn’t show that he’s better. Jordan had arguably the greatest coach of all time, hall of famers in their prime, and a team built around him. Jordan can’t do anything better than LeBron other than shoot a free throw. LeBron has more career points, assists, rebounds, blocks, he’s more efficient from the 3 point line, and is more efficient in just his field goal in general. The only stat Jordan has that’s better than Lebron’s is Jordan being more efficient from the freethrow line. LeBron can do everything Jordan can do all while being 6’9 and 230 pounds.
LeBron has great stats, a winning record in the playoffs, changed the way teams are built, and just overall the best to ever do it. He is the most skilled player of all time and has been since he came in the league. Jordan was the best player on a great team that allowed him to shine more, LeBron was so good of a player he took bad teams and made them seem better than what they were. All of LeBron’s and Jordan’s games can be watched on youtube if their skills are to be questioned.