Who is the greatest basketball player in history? There will never be a definitive answer to that question. But for most people, it comes down to two names – Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Jordan.
The name speaks for itself. Six Championships with the Chicago Bulls. Never lost a final. Five-time MVP. LeBron. Four Championships with three different teams – Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers. Four-time MVP. All-time leading scorer in NBA history. Who is better between them? At the end of the day, it all comes down to preference. There is no right or wrong answer to that question. In the eyes of Mario Chalmers, who was teammates with LeBron in Miami and won two Championships with him, there is one factor in which Jordan is ahead. According to Nico Martinez on FadeAway World, Chalmers said to Shaq on the BIG Podcast: “I didn’t think players really fear LeBron like they did Michael Jordan. “It’s not that you shouldn’t fear LeBron I just think at the end of the day, LeBron has been through so much that he wanted to be liked. So it was kind of like I’m gonna do things now where people like me, people respect me. But you actually like LeBron and want to be a fan of LeBron and I think that’s what that was.”
That would be a fair assessment to make. The fear factor around Jordan in his prime was certainly a lot higher when compared to LeBron. One criticism that LeBron has faced over the years is that he has never truly dominated the competition like Jordan did. He is 4-6 when it comes to the NBA Finals. Not the most impressive record by any stretch of the imagination. Of course, getting to 10 finals is a feat in itself but when the spotlight is the brightest, LeBron has lost more often than he has won. Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki, Kawhi Leonard, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant, all won Championships directly against LeBron. Jordan, on the other hand, has a flawless 6-0 record in the NBA Finals. What’s equally impressive is the fact that he never let it go down to a Game 7 in the finals. Jordan won a threepeat, went on a hiatus to play baseball, returned and did the threepeat again. That’s something scary for sure.
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