“Some guys might say he is No. 2, but other guys like me, I say he is No. 1, and he’s still going,” said Giannis Antetokounmpo, putting it plainly that he believes James is the best NBA player ever, ahead of Michael Jordan.
by Plastic-Dot-9278
@National Basketball Association
30 Comments
Based
didn’t know Giannis thought this highly of James Wiseman
JorGamble fans in shambles
Kinda refreshing to see that there are some players who have LeBron as their Goat.
You don’t hear that quite often and I assumed it would be the next generation of players who will grow up watching LeBron play and not Gianis but still pretty cool.
Especially considering how heated the debate is.
MJ’s peak was unquestionably higher. That does factor in. That does not end the debate though. It’s just a factor that has to be weighed.
Guys who grew up playing with and inspired by Bron and who relate more to Bron may have greater fealty toward Bron. That’s natural. It shouldn’t be a competiton or debate to begin with. We should acknowledge all eras are different. MJ is the best in his and Bron is the best in his, and just appreciate their greatness without feeling the need to compare one another’s careers.
I agree that one of these guys is two, but 1 has to be Boris Diaw
Harden has Giannis and Morey caught in his genjutsu
Lot of players are going to hold the ones they played against as their #1. Some of the older players were doing the same for Oscar, Kareem, or Wilt.
I think he’s wrong (since I think Giannis tends to make poor decisions during the All-Star selection) but you’ll hear a lot of people in this generation defend Lebron as such.
A decade ago and you had guys saying “Kobe is my GOAT” or whatever
He’s entitled to his opinion, that’s for sure.
However, other than longevity and assists, I don’t see what argument you can construct that put LeBron over MJ. MJ literally has a HoF amount of incremental accolades over Bron.
Not talking about the eye-test, and the accounts of players who were outright terrified before games against him.
I love Bron, not the biggest fan. I’m not the biggest fan of MJ either. Just an observation.
LeBron can unfortunately never be the GOAT unless the year 2011 disappears from existence. Or unless he wins 3 more rings as the #1 option.
Wow. Debate over. We can all go home now.
Giannis is factually correct, it’s obviously Lebron lmao
Giannis is 28. He never saw MJ. Who cares?
IMO lebron is just as good as MJ at playing basketball.
Legacy wise though MJ is #1
2011 finals will always haunt him
I have lebron at 1 but if he’s 1 then Jordan is like 1.00000000001
Both phenomenal obviously
I am a hard MJ GOAT guy, but it’s reeeeeal close. Bron’s longevity and flexibility and BBIQ – excelling with a wide variety of talent around him and making it work, really is other worldly. The way he carried early Cavs teams to the Finals routinely was just stupid.
Bro is once again tampering
Hold on brotha I’m gonna let you finish but the best player you’ve ever played against is – the best player you’ve ever played against.
Every game LeBron plays, the points record becomes that much harder to ever be broken. His counting stats will be unmatched.
Jordan fans are so insecure Lmao… really says a lot about his position in the goat debate
I’d agree, based on longevity. Forever should be in this convo is the importance of Scottie Pimpin
Common Giannis W
This sub the other day . ‘ omg how dare Lebron answer a question about what if he wasn’t the goat of basketball what other sport how rude n cocky , he’s so insecure about it!.’! Guy who is gonna be top 20 all time minimum ‘yeah he’s the goat for me even if others don’t think so.’
Can we let people have opinions? Put up good arguments if you actually care. Not hero worship mythology of Jordon who would shoot like klay Thompson from 3 now and had a 48 in vert ( not officially recorded n much higher then guys like lavine n Zion who just no such horse shit). There’s loads of great players in history focus on the ones you like guys not the ones you just want to shit on for believing in themselves n working their ass off.
Giannis isnt brainwashed by nostalgia and is actually evaluating the players themselves, not the storyline he created in his head when he was 10.
I hate the longevity argument, MJ left at his peak because he didn’t want to be an old man on the court not that he couldn’t. Look at the wizards games he was still him but he played through the bad boys and the 90s and the shoes he wore are way worse for your body than what’s out today, he could have played like Lebron taking games off and playing 30 minutes a game not 40.
Imagine if MJ left the bulls and created his own super team with 2 other all stars every year like Lebron in Maimi, his return to Cleveland, LA. He would coast to the finals. MJ didn’t recruit players he built his team up into champions. He was that good. Scottie was nice but wouldn’t be a top player all time without Micheal. Micheal made his teammates all stars while Lebron recruits his teammates from all star games.
Guy favors the guy he played against, more at 11.
How could the game have peaked 25+ years ago? Players get better and the sport evolves for the better. This is just how it goes. I get that Jordan was great in his time but players have learned from Jordan and have taken things to the next level.
the madness that LeBron vs Jordan threads turn into always cracks me up man… I no longer care for the arguments of either side I just look for the ridiculous LeBum/JorBum meme monstrosities that people come up with
I think that MJ was clearly the best in the NBA by a much wider gap during his time than LeBron has been during his era.
However, I think the average skill and professionalism of the NBA, and the overall quality of the game, especially defence, has increased monumentally during LeBrons time compared to Jordan. For example, the change in centers knocking down 3s and handing the ball.
As such, for LeBron to achieve what he has amongst tougher competition is something that can’t be discounted when doing any comparison.
Basketball is the only sport where this GOAT debate seems to be neverending. I really wish there would be a day where we collectively agree that they’re both great players and leave it at that, instead of this need to have to rank everything.