Nearly 34,000 points - one bucket at a time, one game at a time, one season at a time, since 2003.īut does that mean James was the better scorer? Raw stats would seem to say so, with James averaging more points per game on superior efficiency.īut let’s take a deeper look in some other areas that might shed more light on how two of the very best scorers to ever grace an NBA court truly measure up. It marks the latest achievement in a career already filled with them for James, surpassing yet another great with seemingly no end in sight. Now comes even more fuel to the fire as James, now wearing the same purple-and-gold uniform Bryant donned for two decades, surpassed the Laker legend for third place on the career scoring list in a loss to the Sixers in Philadelphia. But LeBron, counters the other, is just better. Kobe has more rings and a killer instinct LeBron lacks, argues one side. Off the court, however, is a different story altogether as fans have been debating their respective places in the game for years. Not on the court, at least, where the two never locked horns so much as a single time in the playoffs, where rivalries are truly born. All rights reserved.Despite being inextricably linked as superstar contemporaries whose career overlapped for 13 seasons, there was never much of a rivalry between Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and Safety Information / Your California Privacy Rights are applicable to you. ^ Back to Top ^ © 2023 ESPN Internet Ventures. The nationwide online study among 615 NBA fans ages 18-and-over was conducted May 8-11 by TideWatch Research. Only 8% chose someone other than Jordan or James. So Jordan topped James in the head-to-head poll, but does that make him the GOAT? The respondents said yes, albeit by a slightly smaller margin - 65% say Jordan is the greatest of all time, while 14% say it's James, and 13% said it was too close to call. Fans even like Jordan's overall "look" - preferring his shaved head to James' signature headband by a 30-point margin.īut what about the argument that James faces stiffer competition in today's NBA than Jordan did in his prime? The poll dismissed that point, with 71% saying the league was all-around better during Jordan's playing days. And when it comes to shoes, there is no debate: 79% of fans think Air Jordans are more fashionable than LeBron's Nike line, and 77% think they perform better on the court, as well. Jordan was also favored as the first pick with which to start a team (66%).īasketball aside, 65% of fans said they would rather have a drink with Jordan than James, and 62% said Jordan - now the owner of the Charlotte Hornets - has had a more positive impact off the court. However, fans still said they would prefer Jordan as a teammate by a 26-point margin. James fared better in the questions asking which player was the superior defensive player, as Jordan won by only 18 percentage points, 59% to 41%.įans also were more evenly split on who was the better passer, with James receiving 41% of the votes, and which player fans trusted more to pass them the ball, for which the Los Angeles Lakers' star came in at 43%. There's little doubt fans would rather see the ball in Jordan's hands with the game on the line, as 76% thought he was the better choice than James to take a game-winning shot, and 74% trusted His Airness to come through in the clutch.įans also said Jordan was the better offensive player (65%), more spectacular to watch play (74%) and would beat James one-on-one in a game to 21 points (67%). Jordan naturally led by almost 4-to-1 (79%) in the older half, but even in the younger group, Jordan was preferred by nearly 2-to-1 (66%). To account for the generation gap - Jordan last played in the season before James entered the league in 2003 - the 600 respondents were split evenly into two age groups: 18-34 and 35 and older. Michael Jordan or LeBron James? For NBA fans, the debate over the better NBA player will never end - but at the moment, MJ clearly has more fans in his corner.Ī new poll commissioned by ESPN found 73% of NBA fans believe Jordan is the superior player overall, and the Chicago Bulls legend swept all 17 questions comparing him to James by metrics both on and off the court. NBA, Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Charlotte Hornets Michael Jordan better than LeBron James in every way, says poll of NBA fans You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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