CC Sabathia is taking Michael Jordan over LeBron James. Although, not in the basketball GOAT debate.

During an appearance on Jalen Rose's “Renaissance Man” podcast on Wednesday, Rose asked the former ace which NBA icon he would prefer to strikeout: Michael Jordan or LeBron James.

Sabathia went with the Chicago Bulls legend, for one specific reason.

“MJ, for sure, for sure, because he talks so much s–t,” Sabathia cracked. “Like, even now — like, my shoulder's broken, I want his ass to get in the box right now and strike him out right now. Last time he came to one of my starts, I think I had like three or four walks or something, and I come out of the tunnel and before he even gave me a five, he was like, ‘Why you walking so many people?' So MJ, for sure, for sure. … I was like, ‘Dawg, I've seen the back of your f—ing baseball card.'”

CC Sabathia is alluding to Michael Jordan's subpar numbers during his short-lived stint with the Birmingham Barons in 1994. Over 127 games in low-AA ball, Jordan produced .202/.289/.266 splits and struck out 114 times. Considering those stats, the former Cy Young award winner probably wouldn't have too much trouble getting MJ to whiff on a backdoor cutter.

Last time I checked, LeBron James does not have a track record playing professional baseball on any level, so Michael Jordan would still (hypothetically) put up a little more of a fight in the batter's box against Sabathia.

Sabathia struck out 3,093 batters and won 251 games with a 3.74 ERA over his 19-year career with the Cleveland Indians, Milwaukee Brewers, and New York Yankees. He helped lead the Yankees to the 2009 World Series title.