The LeBron James versus Michael Jordan debate isn’t going anywhere, and the former continues to make the argument for the latter more difficult. When the new generation of fans is born and finds their way to the NBA, the people calling Jordan will be in the minority. At 40 years old, James continues to impress, and continues to topple Jordan in the record books. Friday night against the Atlanta Hawks, James took another record away from his “Airness”.
James finished the game, a 119-102 win, with 30 points on 13 of 20 shooting. It was the 563rd time in his career that he scored 30 or more points, surpassing a record that Jordan set in 2003. Jordan had overtaken Wilt Chamberlains mark of 516. There are fans who will try to discount the new record, because James achieved the feat in his 1,523rd game, and Jordan set the mark in 1,072 games. Chamberlain had his final 30 point game on Feburary 22, 1972, the 945th game of his career.
Records in every sports league are bound to fall at some point in time. There are a number of excuses that can be made to discredit the new record, but they are all false. It doesn’t matter whether the new record holder did it in more games, or had a better situation because of their coaches or teammates. It doesn’t matter if their talent was decades ahead of it’s time. The fact that a record will fall is an inevitability of time.
On February 8, 2023, James became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. James had also passed Jordan as the oldest player to average 30 points per game, doing it at the age of 37 (Jordan was 32). The number of records a person holds does not necessarily translate to them being the greatest in they eyes of every fan. If that was the case, Chamberlain would be the unanimous GOAT, with over 65 records that are so prolific, no one has been able to break them over the last 50 years.
There are fans who believe that James is the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time), and this most recent achievement will only solidify those beliefs. Others will say that Jordan is, and there are factions that pick Wilt, Russell, and even Kobe Bryant. While these debates will rage on for infinity, and they can burn extremely hot at times, they are all wrong. That’s not to discourage anyone who passionately argues for one player over another. Everybody is also right at the same time.
There is no factual GOAT. There is no metric or statistic to measure greatness (despite what NBA 2K fans may have been led to believe). What makes a player great is subjective, which makes any player being called the greatest a subjective statement. Someone who says titles are most important would pick Bill Russell. A person who believes stats are most important might pick Wilt. It’s all just a matter of opinion. Nobody is right or wrong. The one thing everyone can agree on, is that they will never agree. Congratulations to LeBron James on a great feat and an amazing career.
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