NBA 2018-19 Unpopular Opinion: LeBron James is better than Michael Jordan
LeBron James was drafted as the number one overall pick in the 2003 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The hype surrounding him before his NBA draft was unreal. He has fully lived up to that hype and had a stellar NBA career so far.
During the course of his illustrious career, he has always seen comparisons between him and Michael Jordan. He has also not shied away from these comparisons and recently stated himself to be the "GOAT" because of his involvement in the historic 2016 NBA championship final comeback against the greatest regular season team in NBA history.
Let's have a look at some of the reasons why LeBron James is the GOAT:
#3 King James becomes a different beast when it comes to the playoffs
James has reached 9 NBA finals and 8 straight from 2011-2018. Jordan reached 6 NBA finals and could not deliver victories in playoff series without Pippen. Jordan was 1-9 in playoff series without Pippen.
Michael Jordan's best playoff year was arguably the 1992-93 season when he averaged 35 points, 6 assists and 6.7 rebounds per game for the entire playoffs on 47.5% shooting from the floor. This unbelievable effort from Jordan falls short of what James did in the 2017-18 playoffs. He averaged 34 points, 9.1 rebounds and 9 assists per game for the entire playoffs on an outrageous 54% shooting from the floor. That was arguably the best individual post-season in NBA history. He single-handedly took a very poor Cavs side to the NBA finals.
In the 2015 and 2016 NBA finals against the Golden State Warriors, James became the first player to lead both teams in all five major statistical categories of - Points, assists, rebounds, steals, and blocks. James becomes a different player come playoffs.