LeBron James vs Michael Jordan: Who’s Better? – Revised
(These were my initial thoughts when this article was published back in 2013 )
You can’t deny that LeBron James is one of the top-3 players in the NBA but to compare him to Jordan at this point of his career is insane. A better debate would be asking who would win in a 1-on-1 match-up.
LeBron James stands at 6’8 and weighs 250 pounds, he has a much larger frame than Jordan, and is said to be capable of playing all five positions. LeBron is also a very powerful player who has become an even bigger threat in the post area, all credit should go to Hakeem Olajuwon for helping LeBron add an array of post moves to his arsenal during the 2012 NBA off-season. Michael Jordan never trained with former NBA greats to improve his game, he perfected his skills on his own and people need to understand how important this is to how Jordan developed as a player in contrast to LeBron.
Another important note, Michael Jordan was a slightly smaller player, with a height of 6’6 inches and an average weight of about 205 pounds when he was in his prime. At his size, Jordan was a lightning quick guard who could play both the No. 1 or the No. 2 position, he was also one of the best fade away post players in the NBA during his career. His competitive attitude and work ethic were the keys to his championship success as he loved the taste of winning. Michael Jordan transcended the game of basketball, he’s the baseline to what other basketball players like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James aspired to be. Jordan is arguably the most emulated basketball player in NBA history, and his sneaker brand Jordan continues to be one of the most popular brands in the world r. Jordan elevated the NBA to an international level which hasn’t been duplicated ever.
So to question whether LeBron James would win a one-on-one contest is quite idiotic, considering it would be an uneven match-up. In my opinion, Jordan would have an edge with his speed and quickness while LeBron (with his huge upside) could penetrate at will . Jordan, in all his greatness, would win the match-up vs the 2013 LeBron.
Many could argue that LeBron James is a better all-around player because of his NBA success. True, LeBron became an immediate impact after entering the NBA, he joined the league straight from high school and became one of the youngest players to ever win the league MVP award, his NBA finals appearances with a lackluster supporting cast during his career in Cleveland are noteworthy, and his ability to rebound and dish out assists with a style similar to Magic Johnson makes him a very unique player. I guess I come from a different era because in my eyes, as of this day, Michael Jordan is still the best player to ever play the game.
We can talk about stats all day but the fact of the matter is LeBron James is so far from Michael Jordan’s success, the best argument people can conjure up is whether or not LeBron could defeat Jordan in a one-on-one game or whether he is a better player. Again, Lebron’s size and ability is very rare but the Miami Heat are far from a dynasty team, when the Heat win 72 games in a season and Lebron wins consecutive NBA championships in dominating fashion, then we should entertain the discussion in regards to who’s a better player.
If Lebron continues his dominance, improves his clutch performances and wins the next few NBA championships with decent but not great teams, then we can have an argument about comparing him against Michael Jordan.
LeBron James vs Michael Jordan who’s better – as of 12/2016
As I look back at my thoughts in 2013 when I was an aspiring writer still searching for a voice, and after seeing LeBron James reach the NBA finals every season since 2011 while winning an NBA title for two separate NBA teams in less than three years, I can honestly say without the slightest hesitation that LeBron James is the greatest basketball player I have ever seen put on a pair of sneakers. You could almost make the case that his game is a hybrid of skills complete with abilities mostly present in Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. LeBron James has advanced to the NBA Finals 7 times, and despite losing 4 and winning 3, he’s on track to become No.2 on the list of MVP winners to appear in 5 or more NBA Finals.
More to come….
Loading ...
4 Comments
Salrwater Mike
December 30, 2016 at 12:47 amBoth are super players, but I’ll give MJ a very, very, very slight edge. LJ would have to player some perimeter defense away from the basket to keep MJ threes from raining down. Likewise, LJ would own the drives to the basket, but MJ would grabBoth are any errant shots. MJ’s speed and ball handling would cause trouble. Both are good rebounders. Rings don’t mean a thing, but championships are built around team effort.
anthony
February 18, 2013 at 8:07 amout of 10 games L.James would beat Micheal Jordan 5 and each game would be close alot people think that MJ would win easy but people MJ’s days of playing basketball he havent never played against nobody as big and strong as LJ MJ VS K.Bryant in a 1 on 1 in there prime K. Bryant would win 6 to4 they are both great defence gys and there both quick but the difference is K.Bryant can shoot from anywhere if MJ play K.Bryant too close Kobe is quick enough to blow by MJ Kobe don’t have to be hot to shoot from anywhere MJ couldn’t shoot 3or4 feet behind the 3 point line like Kobe and thats wat seperate MJ and Kobe people 4 get that Kobe had 81 points in his best game that was in 3 qtrs MJ 68 in 4 qtrs take nothing away from MJ it looked like MJ was better when Kobe was 19 years older but both of them in there prime 1 on 1 nobody was better Kobe my friend loves MJ acknowledge that kobe was better than mike, not as smart because micheal was the smartest man to ever play the game. he kept good players around him by taking pay cuts unlike kobe. kobe didn’t want to keep shaq around, could have won 8 championships.
JR Williams
February 18, 2013 at 11:32 amGood point.. I would argue that a 28 year old Jordan would beat a 28 year old Lebron. At the end of Lebron’s career he may not have anything close to the body of work Jordan has accomplished, but only time will tell..
plastic man
March 21, 2013 at 11:21 pmlebron has a much better game than mj at 28yrs the only thing mj has on him is the scoring titles and thats because lebron is a very unselfish player who rather to have tripple doubles but kobe is better than them both in his prime