Tag: GOAT debate

No. 1 pick Cade Cunningham calls LeBron the GOAT over Michael Jordan

The 2021 No. 1 overall pick chooses LeBron James as the GOAT of the league instead of Michael Jordan.

With the amount of talent the NBA has seen through the decades, there are always a few players who emerge as the best of the best.

Michael Jordan did it in the 90s while with the Chicago Bulls after racking up the accolades and making notable play after notable play in pivotal games.

For the newer generation enamored with basketball, LeBron James, and even Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, have been the peak of the talent in the world.

James rose to prominence immediately as a rookie in 2003 and is still going strong in 2021 at 36 years old, despite injuries derailing his seasons in two of the past three campaigns.

Still, James’ skill, IQ and athleticism have always been utilized to the very best throughout his year, leading to four NBA championships with three coming from different teams.

The GOAT debate typically boils down to Jordan vs. James, and the NBA world is almost always split in discussing who is supreme between the two.

For 2021 No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham of the Detroit Pistons, James is the GOAT, via Mark Carman of FanSided:

“It’s hard for me to put somebody ahead of LeBron cause LeBron is the best player I’ve seen with my eyes,” Cunningham said. “Trust me I’ve seen all the Michael Jordan stuff, dude is different. I can’t argue with the fact that you think he is the GOAT but in my eyes I say LeBron.”

Cunningham, 19, later discussed how he grew up watching James, not Jordan, which certainly influenced his perspective.

Now, the top rookie will have the chance to play against James next season when the Pistons and Lakers face off.

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Michael Jordan weighed in on LeBron James and the GOAT debate

We’ve never seen Jordan take the diplomatic route, but alas.

The greatest of all time debates in the NBA are probably the most tiresome debates you could possibly have.

There’s always that somebody that says it’s Michael Jordan. Then, you’ve got the person who is probably just barely old enough to buy a beer and doesn’t know what a Tamogatchi is who says it’s undeniably LeBron James.

Then you’ve got the old-head who inserts themselves into the conversation and says something wild like “do you even know what a sky hook is, young fella?” Calm down, grandpa.

Then, of course, you’ve got the Kobe stan who is literally the only person who could possibly think that Kobe Bryant is the greatest basketball player of all time.

Like I said, it’s a tiresome debate. I hate having it. Don’t ask me where I stand.

Apparently, Michael Jordan didn’t feel like having the debate either. When he was asked about the comparisons between he and LeBron as the greatest players of all-time, he took the cop out route. You know the one.

That whole “they played in different eras so we can’t tell!” thing. Yup, he went there.

BOOOOOOOOO.

I expected way more out of Michael Jordan. He literally crafted his Hall of Fame speech around disparaging the opponents that he mopped the floor with for two decades one last time.

He couldn’t give us a little “oh, LeBron? TUH” or something? Jordan could do better.

In all honesty, this is probably the correct answer. But we don’t want the correct answer. We want Michael Jordan’s real answer. This doesn’t feel like that.

I know what we have to do. Next time, somebody just needs to straight up tell MJ that LeBron is better.

He’ll probably come out of retirement to try and prove it wrong.

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