The Athletic recently released their GOAT poll among active NBA players, which caused much grief in HoopsHype’s headquarters since we had been working on a similar project during the season. Our voter size is similar, with 85 player interviews and another 15 players tallied with their picks via social media or a public interview on the record. However, the results are slightly different, with Michael Jordan getting a bigger gap over LeBron James compared to The Athletic’s poll.
Our GOAT poll also includes a twist. HoopsHype has compiled a detailed breakdown of the players who voted based on their nationality, age, position, salary, star status, whether they have been teammates of LeBron at any point, and the reasoning behind their votes.
The results of our HoopsHype GOAT poll show there’s no clear answer anymore to a debate Jordan would have won clearly a few years ago. Believe it or not, people change their minds. That was the case with Devonte Graham, for example.
“I played for the GOAT, Michael Jordan,” Spurs guard Devonte Graham told HoopsHype. “He paid me. When I played there, he was definitely the GOAT. Once I got traded, it became LeBron.”
Below are the results of the poll and a detailed breakdown of the voting.
HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report.