NBA legend Scottie Pippen slammed Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
Pippen, a six-time NBA champion, said neither Jordan nor LeBron is the GOAT.
“You can’t ask me who’s the GOAT between LeBron and Michael,” Pippen said. “Neither one of them are GOATS. They both won differently. You can’t put them at the top of the pinnacle. Magic Johnson to me is a bigger GOAT than anybody because of how he led, how he brought a whole team, how when the greatest scorer in the game, Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] was not there and him as a rookie steps in and plays a position that no one even knew he could play, that’s transcending what you can do as a player.”
Pippen has been bashing Jordan ever since “The Last Dance” came out in 2020. The Chicago Bulls icons are no longer on speaking terms.
Meanwhile, Pippen has always been critical of LeBron, who is 4-6 in the NBA Finals and has played for three teams during his Hall of Fame career.
Jordan has career averages of 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 2.3 steals and 0.8 blocks with the Bulls and Washington Wizards. He won five MVPs, one Defensive Player of the Year Award, six championships, six Finals MVPs, three steals titles and 10 scoring titles with the Bulls in the ’90s.
Meanwhile, LeBron has career averages of 27.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 7.4 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers. He’s a four-time MVP, a four-time champion, a four-time Finals MVP, a one-time scoring champion and a one-time assists champion.
Jordan, who went 6-0 in the NBA Finals with Pippen, is first in NBA history in points per game, fourth in steals, fifth in field goals and second in player efficiency rating. He holds the NBA record for most points (63) scored in a postseason game.
LeBron, who grew up idolizing Jordan, is first in NBA history in points, fourth in assists, eighth in steals, second in field goals, seventh in 3-point field goals, fifth in triple-doubles, seventh in points per game and third in player efficiency rating.
LeBron is 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 30,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 10,000 assists and the only player to score 40,000 points.
Jordan made 14 All-Star teams, 11 All-NBA teams and nine All-Defensive teams during his career.
Meanwhile, LeBron has made 20 All-Star teams, 20 All-NBA teams and six All-Defensive teams.
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LeBron has played MANY more seasons. That’s what your final point seems to say without explicitly saying. But it makes the other comparisons look that much worse for LeBron.
Measuring apples to oranges just doesn’t do it for me.
Did you hear what Pippen said about LeBron not even being on the same level as Jordan?Left that part out I see. It was part of that same conversation, mentioning Magic.
Your desire to put Jordan and LeBron on the same level continues to bury the credibility of your articles. It’s just not a good look. You didn’t report what Pippen said about comparing those two (your title invited the point), but then you tried to compare those two yourself, and again went on to insult the intelligence of the fan base, the sports fans.
Readers are looking for some base level of objectivity from their sport writers. Not rah rah propaganda for one person. So transparent.