The GOAT debate is an evergreen one suited for any occasion, yet it isn't one NBA players find too hard to decide. According to a survey by The Athletic, polling 117 NBA players, the best player of all time is Michael Jordan, and overwhelmingly so. Jordan took a rousing 73% of the vote, while his two biggest rivals in LeBron James and Kobe Bryant only mustered less than 12% of the vote each:

  1. Michael Jordan (73%)
  2. LeBron James (11.9%)
  3. Kobe Bryant (10.6%)
  4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1.7%)
  5. Magic Johnson, Allen Iverson, Kevin Durant (1%)

While sports analysts, former players, commentators and fans have often differing opinions on the matter, a near-third of the NBA very clearly thinks Jordan is still king when it comes to the tile of greatest of all time.

Bryant recently was a guest of James Corden of “The Late Late Show” and was asked to rank himself among Jordan and James, ranking himself atop the list, while ranking Jordan second and James third.

James, meanwhile, claimed he ascended as the greatest of all time after defeating the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors in the postseason, the team that won the most regular-season games in NBA history.

Yet neither of them wound up topping the list.

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Bailey Bassett ·

Jordan has never claimed to be the greatest of all time and has rather deflected questions of this nature, but that hasn't seemed to impact his place in history, nor the minds of current players.

Other names like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Kevin Durant and Allen Iverson also were mentioned on the list, though they were well behind in the voting.