“I’m a Michael Jordan guy, but LeBron James’ story is arguably the greatest story in sports history”: Charles Barkley makes controversial claim about the Lakers superstar’s life and how he’s viewed by the public

Charles Barkley always picks the Michael Jordan camp in any GOAT debate between him and LeBron James. But he also acknowledges Bron’s excellence.

If there’s one single storyline that has come up every offseason in the past 5 years, it’s the GOAT debate. Every Tom, Dick and Harry who starts following basketball seemingly HAS to have an opinion on this subjective question.

Even when legends themselves refuse to categorize people as GOATs, the public has to pass time while talking about basketball beyond the mundane regular season stuff that happens every day. That’s the reason why NBA Reddit and Twitter have become such toxic spaces.

Charles Barkley is a man who played in the Michael Jordan era, suffered defeat to him in the NBA Finals. He’s also been a sportscaster through the entirety of LeBron James’ career.

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Barkley is undoubtedly one of the best-placed, most neutral people to be able to make a call on this. And while he’s always sided with Michael Jordan, the Chuckster made sure to give LeBron James his flowers in his most recent take on the debate.

Charles Barkley passes Michael Jordan over in naming LeBron James’ story as the best in sports history

Charles Barkley recently appeared on the Draymond Green show for a tete-a-tete with the 3-time champion. One of the things this charismatic TNT duo touched upon was regarding how LeBron James is being viewed by current Lakers fans.

Barkley was extremely supportive of LeBron, even going to the extent of calling his story the greatest in sports history over one Michael Jordan:

“Now, I’m an MJ guy, I’ll make that clear. But I think what LeBron has accomplished is arguably the greatest story in sports history.”

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“You look at Kobe, Kevin Garnett – guys like that – they were not good players when they first got to the NBA. LeBron is the only player in my 40 years in the NBA who played great from day 1.”

We stop the Chuckster right in his tracks before you take his words on this issue at face value. He clearly has a bad memory when it comes to giving interviews unintoxicated.

Tim Duncan was named All-NBA First Team in his rookie year out of Wake Forest. Shaquille O’Neal was a rookie voted as a starter to the All-Star Game. Michael Jordan, like Tim Duncan after him, was an All-NBA team selection as a rookie. MJ also tallied the highest total points by any player in the NBA during his rookie year.

So as basketball fans and viewers, we should always remember to take these legends and talking heads’ words with a grain of salt. They may have played at an elite level, but their memories and arguments are certainly nowhere near as sharp as their playing styles.