Last Updated on June 22, 2024 by Mathew Diekhake
Jordan is the best basketball player and it’s not close. I like Lebron and don’t mean to speak badly of him. If you assess Jordan and Lebron on the court, you could say they’re similar in value. However, there’s a lot more to Jordan than skill and talent on the court. When Jordan points to his 6 rings, it doesn’t only mean skill and talent on the court. There was so much more that went into his basketball off the court with learning and training, as well as working on chemistry with teammates.
Jordan was an exceptional leader, and his championships are evidence of that. When you watch Jordan’s instructional videos, he had so much knowledge about how to play the game that it’s impossible not to respect it. Jordan’s character is also what allows him to be the leader that he was. He was confident and slightly arrogant on the court, yet humble off of it. He took the time to understand his teammates and get the most out of them. He was willing to show weakness, be emotional, etc.
Lebron had a lot of talent and skill on the court. But he wasn’t the leader that Jordan was. Lebron is cool off the court, but that’s not relevant to being a good leader. I would also argue that his game on the court didn’t have the depth that Jordan’s did. Jordan was considerably better at driving to the basket and as a scorer in that regard in general. Lebron was a good outside shooter but not great at being nimble when facing the basket.
If you don’t assess a proven ability to win or leadership qualities, I think T-Mac was the best player for numerous years. By 07/08, he may not have had the health to be the same player, but he was still the player I liked to watch the most. There was grace in how he played the game after he had slowed; a game now focussed on teamwork, efficiency, passing, and high-quality shots. Even after T-Mac slowed down, I quite easily preferred watching him play to someone like Lebron and possibly Jordan.
With sports, I always go for the underdog. The reason is because whenever I see a very good team and all of their ratings are off the charts, I want to beat them. I don’t want to join them. Nothing is more enjoyable to me than trying to take that team down.
It’s the reason I followed Ray Allen as a Sonic and Tracy McGrady as a Rocket: I was young and dumb enough to think they could get it done. Scottie Pippen was very valuable to the Bulls. Michael Jordan couldn’t have done that without his teammates. And it’s one of the reasons Jordan is the legend of the NBA. Jordan wasn’t just talent and skill. He was a lot more than that. He worked on chemistry and learned how to get the most out of his teammates. But also, the team itself did what it had to do.
That combination of everything coming together and providing 2 3-peats is remarkable. So much had to happen for that to work out. Michael Jordan is to basketball what William Shakespeare is to writing. His legend will last thousands of years. You can have your opinion on who is the best basketball player of all time, but it’s Jordan who is the legend of the game. And for me that automatically makes him the greatest basketball player. He likely had input in all of those factors that came together.