NBA Hall of Famer Who Played Michael Jordan Says Lakers' LeBron James is GOAT

Does he consider the Chicago legend better than the 20-time L.A. All-Star?

Apr 25, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) controls the ball against the Denver Nuggets during the second half in game three of the first round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports / Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

All-NBA Los Angeles Lakers small forward LeBron James has long been considered one of the best players in the history of the game. But is he better than the man generally considered to be the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT), Hall of Fame former Chicago Bulls shooting guard Michael Jordan? Is he even better than six-time league MVP former Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or 11-time champion Boston Celtics center Bill Russell?

During an interview with Kory Woods of MLive.com, a Hall of Fame contemporary of Jordan's and Abdul-Jabbar's, former Detroit Pistons point guard Isiah Thomas, gave James the edge in his personal rankings for the best player ever.

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“I think when you look at, like I say, he’s touched and he leads in almost every statistical category," Thomas said. "He’s passed Kareem in scoring. I think he’s got the most playoff points. Not only that, when you look at the assist column, I know where I stand on the assist record. I think he’s passed me; I think he’s passed Magic on the assist record. I mean, so when you talk about passing, scoring, rebounding, we’ve never had a player in the NBA that has touched every statistical category and leads in some of these statistical categories that we’re talking about. There’s never been another player like him. Now, everyone has their favorites, but if the numbers don’t lie, the numbers don’t lie. And he definitely passes the eye test. So to me, he’s the best that I’ve ever seen from a team standpoint and also as a basketball player.”

This vote arrives with a few major caveats. Thomas was bitter rivals with both Jordan's Bulls and Abdul-Jabbar's Lakers throughout the years. Infamously, he remains incredibly bitter that he was essentially held out of the 1992 U.S. men's gold medal-winning Olympic "Dream Team" because Jordan refused to partake if Thomas did. A Chicago native, Thomas resented Jordan's fame in his hometown, and his standing in the league hierarchy. The Bulls essentially supplanted the Pistons as the best defensive club in the league in 1991, after several hard-fought Eastern Conference playoff encounters in the years prior. Detroit played the Lakers in a pair of hard-fought NBA Finals, in 1988 and '89, and the teams split the two series.

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