What do your NBA GOAT rankings look like? For most people today, the debate for the top spot comes down to Michael Jordan and LeBron James. The oldheads tend to skew towards MJ, while the younger generation sides more with LeBron.
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Those two may very well be the two best to ever do it, but it’s important to remember some of the other all-time greats when having this conversation.
Comedian Aries Spears appeared on today’s episode of Byron Scott’s Fast Break and mixed things up by putting Jordan first but dropping LeBron to third behind Kobe Bryant.
Spears described himself as a Jordan “fanatic,” and he drew a line across the generational divide to defend his choice. “Part of what bothers me, and I don’t know why, but it’s become cool now for this young generation to diss our legends,” Spears said.
“Whether you like Michael, who I think is the GOAT, or whether you like LeBron, who I think is the third-best ever, at the end of the day, some of the s*** that people are saying is beyond disrespectful, because it borders idiocy. ‘Jordan couldn’t go left?!’ ‘We done with the ’90s?’ ‘He played with plumbers and truck drivers and the competition was garbage?’ This is what we’re doing right now?”
Spears made the point that load management wasn’t a thing when Jordan and Kobe played, and the stats back him up, as Jordan played all 82 games nine different times. Kobe did it four, while LeBron has only accomplished that once. He also made the hilarious argument that the way teams celebrate championships today gives the older guys the edge.
“When they celebrated, they didn’t use goggles,” Spears said. “They took champagne s**** to the face. They took the burn. They took the burn! These sensitive m************ now, you need goggles? Come on, man.”
We’ve all heard the ring argument used in the GOAT debate. MJ has six, Kobe has five and LeBron has four. We’ve heard some people discount LeBron’s “bubble” ring that he won with the Lakers in 2020. This may be the first time someone has argued that certain rings are worth more because the players celebrated without ocular protection, though.
When Byron Scott asked Spears if his rankings meant that he would have Jordan starting, Kobe on the bench, and LeBron cut, Spears decided to give him his entire all-time starting five instead. “I got Magic at the point, I got Jordan at the 2, I got Shaq at center, I got Bird at small forward and I got Tim Duncan at power forward,” he said. Presumably that would make Kobe the sixth man.
Scott is a Lakers legend, so it was no surprise that he said, “That ain’t a bad list,” to hear that there were three Lakers in the top six. The skill level is off the charts with this team that Spears put together, and between those six, they have 28 rings. Perhaps more importantly, they popped champagne 28 times and never wore goggles once.
