AI Technology Compares LeBron's NIL Valuation to What Jordan's Would Have Been

ChatGPT revealed what the two greatest basketball players to ever live would have been worth in the era of NIL.

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The ever-evolving GOAT debate between Michael Jordan and LeBron James and which of the two legends is the best basketball player to step on the hardwood took an interesting turn courtesy of ChatGPT.

Pritha Debroy of EssentiallySports asked the AI software to calculate the potential earning potential of both James and Jordan in the NIL space had it existed when the two were coming up through the process.

Jordan, who was a sensation at North Carolina for three years before declaring for the NBA Draft one year early, would have been an NIL monster if it was around at the time. At the conclusion of a stellar freshman season in which he was named the ACC's Freshman of the Year, Jordan hit the game winning shot against Georgetown in the 1982 NCAA Championship game, raising his status from promising young player to household name.

ChatGPT estimated Jordan's NIL valuation to be $10 million, a number that would far exceed anyone in collegiate athletics today. Though $10 million is outrageous, the same software estimated that James' worth would have been even higher. James was a known commodity throughout the nation while he was still in high school, and though he did not attend college, things might had been different had NIL been around.

LeBron's valuation exceeding the $10 million of Jordan's is eye-popping at first, but not all that surprising when you look a little deeper. James was on the cover of magazines and all over ESPN well before he even turned 18 and was arguably the most hyped up prospect in the history not just basketball, but American sports as a whole.

To put things in perspective on just how valuable the James name is, LeBron's son Bronny, now of course in the NBA, had a valuation that sat at $7.2 million just coming out of high school. Of course, most of that brand recognition is due to what his father accomplished in the NBA for the better part of the last two decades, but as someone who was the most talked about high school basketball player in history, LeBron certainly would have capitalized on that tremendously.

Nonetheless, $10 million valuations are going to come very soon as the market for NIL continues to trend up.