LeBron vs Jordan: My argument for Lebron (give it a chance)

Here's the thing with you article and your stipulation that you are presenting all the facts. Conjecture is not factual. You say if Lebron plays 8 more seasons "he would finish 2nd all time in points, 7th all time in assists, 44th all time in rebounds, and 5th all time in steals." Well, yea..that's because he will have played 22 seasons of basketball, or more than any other player in history (Kareem, the guy with the most points, played 20).

Now, Jordan played 14 seasons (not counting '94-'95 where he only played 17 games) for a total of 1072 regular season and 179 playoff games).

Lebron has also played 14, with 1060/217. So the easiest way to poke a whole in your argument is right here, where they are basically even in years and regular season games. So, if Lebron retired today, would you, based on the stats, say he had a better career than Jordan? If so, why? That's all you should ask...the rest, again, is conjecture. Or, look at it this way...

MJ and Lebron are close, now look at Kareem. Based on your argument, Kareem has a better claim at GOAT than Lebron based on stats: Kareem's first 14 years: 27.3pt 14rb 4.5ast 2blk 1stl (1st all-time pts, 3rd in rebounds and blocks, 41 in assists.) But...he played 6 more years, and that's a big part of the reason most don't bring up his name..because padding the numbers to all-time highs by playing out longer years is not an equivalency to greatness.

/r/nbadiscussion Thread