Julius Erving Says Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Is The GOAT Over Michael Jordan And LeBron James

NBA legend Julius Erving told Rob Lepelstat of ClutchPoints that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is his GOAT over Michael Jordan and LeBron James. 

“At every level, high school, college and at the pros, he excelled in a way that no other, in my opinion, no other player did,” Erving said. “And validation of the MVPs, validation in terms of championships, validation in terms of scoring titles, records and the stats. And putting guys in the Hall of Fame.

“I mean, you know, you become Kareem’s teammate, you’ve got a pretty good chance of going to the Hall of Fame. And I would think between, say in Milwaukee and in LA, you know, for 20 seasons, if we look at the other players who have made the Hall of Fame, who were his teammates, nobody has a higher number.”

Abdul-Jabbar played three years at UCLA and won three straight championships. He was the first overall pick in the 1969 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. Abdul-Jabbar spent the first six years of his NBA career with the Bucks before getting traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in June 1975. 

In 1,560 games with the Bucks and Lakers, Abdul-Jabbar averaged 24.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 0.9 steals and 2.6 blocks. He won six MVPs, six championships and two Finals MVPs. 

Abdul-Jabbar made 19 All-Star teams, 11 All-Defensive teams and 15 All-NBA teams. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995. 

LeBron passed Abdul-Jabbar to become the leading scorer in NBA history last season. Abdul-Jabbar is second all-time in points, first in field goals, fourth in rebounds, third in blocks and second in games.

Jordan went 6-0 in the NBA Finals and three-peated twice while playing for the Chicago Bulls. He won five MVPs, six Finals MVPs and 10 scoring titles. Jordan is first in NBA history in points per game. 

Meanwhile, LeBron is a four-time MVP, a four-time champion and a four-time Finals MVP. He’s the only player in NBA history to rank top-five all-time in points and assists, the only player to win three Finals MVPs with three different teams, the only player with at least 30,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists and the only player to score 40,000 career points.