Lakers News: Hall Of Famer Weighs In On Michael Jordan, LeBron James Debate
Hall of Fame Chicago Bulls shooting guard Michael Jordan and future Hall of Fame Los Angeles Lakers small forward LeBron James have long been ranked among two of the best players ever to hit the hardwood.
Jordan, a 14-time All-Star, six-time NBA champion and Finals MVP, five-time league MVP, and the 1988 Defensive Player of the Year, is generally considered the best ever. James, a 19-time All-Star (to be fair, Jordan only played in parts of 15 seasons), four-time NBA champ and Finals MVP, and four-time MVP, has recently been fighting his way into the conversation, thanks in part to his insane longevity. Even at the cusp of his 21st season, James remains an All-Star-caliber talent, if not quite his peak self.
Hall of Fame Bulls power forward Toni Kukoc, who won three titles with Jordan from 1996-98, spoke with Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson of Bally Sports about whether or not he'd compare the two talents at all.
“It’s hard to compare players that never played in the same era; that never played against each other," Kukoc said. "Obviously like everything else in the game of basketball is evolving. It’s getting better. These days you can see all the older previous players and you can get all their moves. You can practice those moves, you can get better ready because the knowledge of what to eat and how to prepare yourself, how to get rid of your injuries faster, how to keep your body in shape… all these little things – which appear to be little things, but they’re not can make you a better player. So when it comes to pure – like okay, Michael from the ‘80’s and ‘90’s or LeBron from 2000 or 2010’s you can’t say one was better than the other."
"Michael obviously brought world basketball to another level. And from that point on, LeBron is what LeBron is now that he gave a chance for Luka to be Luka or Jokic [to] be Jokic. You could never imagine that back in the [day]. So if I can compare Michael, I would compare him to Tiger with golf, Messi or Renaldo with soccer, [Michael] Phelps with swimming and stuff like that. Because of those things, Michael is – I can’t say the best player, but he is a GOAT of basketball," Kukoc explained. "I don’t think it’s selfish, it’s just the way it is. I wish that you could put today’s players in the 90’s and have that way of basketball with the hard fouls and everything else and when you’re talking about these guys obviously there’s going to be players that say, ‘Yeah but what about Magic and Bird? What about Bill Russell? What about Elgin Baylor?’ Because in their era those guys were so dominant, that nobody else came close."
"And then they say why would you and say disrespected and in a way it might be true because you’re not mentioning – especially now when you’re talking; people want to get on social media and these are all mid-20 or mid-30 years old that have never seen these guys play and they say, ‘Awww they were slower, they were not physically ready, they’re not this they’re not that…’ but they were scoring buckets from everywhere. They had so much skills; they knew basketball in their little finger," Kukoc continued. "So it’s hard. It’s really hard and it’s not pleasant to try to say that this guy was better than the other if they never played against each other. If they had some kind of record – either the playing that their teams respectfully playing against each other or their records individually head-to-head, then you can say this one had more wins than the other but not such a case.”
It's a fascinating response, and one that has been made before. The game has certainly changed. Three-point shooting is a much bigger point of emphasis, causing even someone like James to add that volume long range sniping to his diverse offensive portfolio. Hand checking fouls are much less leniently refereed than they were during Jordan's era, allowing players to score in the lane much more freely. Defense in general has been policed to the point that it's not nearly as impactful as it was in the 1980s and 1990s, while medical technology and training techniques have allowed stars like James to endure much longer than prior generations.
Beyond Jordan and James, as Kukoc mentions, players like Russell, Magic Johnson, Elgin Baylor, Larry Bird, and two other Lakers greats, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Wilt Chamberlain, all can lay some claim to potential GOAT status.
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