LeBron James is now a four-time champion and four-time Finals MVP after leading the Los Angeles Lakers to the 2020 championship over the Miami Heat at Walt Disney World, but he's still not the GOAT over Michael Jordan.
James is now 4-6 in the NBA Finals, good for a winning percentage of just 40 percent. Jordan, meanwhile, went a perfect 6-0 in the Finals with the Chicago Bulls and three-peated twice. LeBron has never won three rings in a row.
MJ also retired after the 1993 championship over the Phoenix Suns to play baseball following the tragic death of his father and still came back to win three more rings despite playing a completely different sport for a year.
Many believe Michael Jordan could have won eight straight titles with the Bulls if he didn't retire. The Bulls were clearly the best team in the NBA during the '90s with Jordan and Scottie Pippen leading the way on the floor and they were really only tested by the New York Knicks in the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals, a series that went six games.
Other than the Knicks, though, Jordan and the Bulls didn't really have any trouble with teams in the East after getting past the Detroit Pistons in the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals. While MJ and Chicago lost to the Orlando Magic in the 1995 Eastern Conference Semifinals, Jordan wasn't in basketball shape since he had just been playing baseball.
James has had to switch teams a few times to win his titles and a case can be made that it was Anthony Davis who really guided the Lakers to the ring this season.
During Jordan's run, there was never an argument over who the best player on the Bulls was; it was always Michael Jordan. During James' 2016 title with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he was the best player in the playoffs, but it was Kyrie Irving who hit the game-winning shot in Game 7 over Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry.
While James won Finals MVP, the Cavs may not win that ring if Irving wasn't on the team.
Now granted, Jordan never won a title without Pippen, who is greatly underrated by today's basketball fans. However, there was never a doubt that Jordan was the best player on the Bulls during those six titles runs.
Davis could possibly go down as LeBron's best teammate of all time when it's all said and done (sorry, Dwyane Wade). He could have won Defensive Player of the Year this season and actually led the Lakers in 13 statistical categories before the 2019-20 season was suspended in March due to COVID-19.
So while the Lakers are the best team in the world thanks to James and Davis, we can't say for certain that LeBron was the most valuable player for the team this season. The King missed the playoffs in his first season with Los Angeles and needed the help of another top-five player to get back to the postseason and ultimately win it all this season.
This piece isn't meant to bash LeBron James. He's arguably the second-best player of all time and is the only player in NBA history to rank top-10 all-time in points and assists.
However, there's something about going 6-0 in the Finals and never playing a Game 7 in the title series that just makes Michael Jordan's résumé more legendary, not to mention he's one of three players in NBA history to win MVP and DPOY in the same season.
Jordan was the better scorer, finisher and killer in the fourth quarter during his time with the Bulls than James has ever been with the Cavs, Heat and Lakers. He also never left the Bulls to chase a ring or form a superteam and played in the “Bad Boys” era where he was basically getting killed by the Pistons every time he drove to the basket.
Jordan also has more regular-season MVPs and scoring titles than James. His free-throw percentage was better than LeBron's and so was his ability to win games by himself. James is sometimes too passive on offense instead of putting his head down and getting to the rim on every play.
MJ finished his career with averages of 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists with the Bulls and Washington Wizards in 1,072 games. James, meanwhile, has career numbers of 27.1 points, 7.4 boards and 7.4 assists with the Cavs, Heat and Lakers.
LeBron is clearly the better all-around player, but the game of basketball has always been, and will always be, about getting buckets and Jordan was undoubtedly a better scorer than James.
The fact that James has as many Finals losses as Jordan does championships should put the GOAT debate to bed for good, not to mention LeBron had one of the all-time choke jobs in the 2011 Finals against the Dallas Mavericks.
We never saw Jordan shrink under pressure in the Finals and that's why he's the greatest basketball player who ever lived.
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