Back In The Day NBA

GOAT Debate: Michael Jordan Fans Roast LeBron James Roast Over Barbie Doll

Shandel Richardson

Feb 20, 2022; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Lebron James and Michael Jordan on court during halftime during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images
Feb 20, 2022; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Lebron James and Michael Jordan on court during halftime during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-Imagn Images / David Richard-Imagn Images
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There are several categories used by LeBron James and Michael Jordan fans in the G.O.A.T debate.

There's championships, points, rebounds, triple-doubles. Thirty-point games. MVPs, etc.

And now there are Barbie dolls.

James recently became the first male athlete to have a Barbie "Kenbassador" doll. While James fans were ecstatic, the pro-Jordan crowd used it as another knock against its biggest rival for the crown of greatest player of all time.

One social media user criticized James for representing toy dolls while Jordan is known as the best shoe salesman in sports history.

The James doll was released Wednesday, but rumblings of it happened went on for a few weeks. He is dressed in a blue letterman jacket with the letters "LJ." Jordan fans were not impressed.

Former NBA player Richard Jefferson made social media go nuts when referring to James as Barbie a few times during Thursday's ESPN broadcast of the Los Angeles Lakers game against the Dallas Mavericks. What started as Doncic's return to face his former team, the Mavericks, turned into discussions about the toy doll.

After James made an assist in the third quarter, Jefferson referred to James as "LeBarbie."

It should be noted Jefferson was merely poking fun at his former teammate. Jefferson won a championship with James when they were played with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. James led the Cavs from a 3-1 deficit against the Golden State Warriors, who entered with an NBA-record 73 wins.

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Back In The Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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Shandel Richardson
SHANDEL RICHARDSON

Shandel has covered the NBA since 2010, with previous stops at The Athletic and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.  He has covered six NBA Finals, one Super Bowl, the NCAA basketball tournament. He has also been a beat writer for the Miami Hurricanes and contributed on every major beat in South Florida since 2003, including the Miami Dolphins and Miami Marlins. He can also be read in the Sportsbook Review for gambling coverage from around the NBA. A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Shandel attended Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He's also worked for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.  TWITTER: @ShandelRich EMAIL: shandelrich@gmail.com