It turns out Fox Sports do have some genius analysts. This LeBron James and Michael Jordan theory of Kevin Wildes is WILD.
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We are never going to hear the end MJ–LeBron debate in our lifetime. Not unless Giannis Antetokounmpo takes over the latter somehow and goes on to make his case in front of His Airness.
Even before the 18-year-old kid from Akron, Ohio came into the league back in 2003, he was declared “The Chosen One” while he just dreamt of making it to the league and becoming a star to make his mother proud and provide her with a luxurious life.
Well, he kind of did both what he himself and the people expected him to do. While he’ll surely overtake Jordan and every other athlete on the planet in a few years the way he’s taken care of business off the court, but on the court, it’d always be a debate.
Kevin Wildes has a debate-ending theory on LeBron James chasing Michael Jordan for Greatest of All Time.
Decorated TV producer and Fox Sports’ First Things First host, Kevin Wildes, like most other true basketball fans, believes The King has a much longer road to travel if he wants to close in on his idol because there could be a complete Hall of Fame career if we assume a player having just the accomplishments James lags compared to Jordan.
That genius theory should put a full stop to this discussion, shouldn’t it? But that’s not we like to operate, do we? So, let’s get to the counterargument.
Let’s create a player who led his team to 5x NBA championships (ignoring 4-rebound titles because Jordan is 6’6, four inches less than Bill) that’s the difference between Jordan and Bill Russell. That would be HOF as well, wouldn’t he, Kevin? But NBA was a league of plumbers and firemen, right?
Let’s create another one with 0 rings, 1 MVP, 5x All-Star appearances, 4x All-NBA teams, and 2x All-Defensive teams. Hey!!! That’s another Hall of Famer, not a first-ballot maybe, surely a borderline, but that’s a HOF career.
That’s that difference between Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and MJ, and we the netizens never considered that man better than Jordan for some bizarre reason. What’s the conclusion, then?
GOATs are just the perspective with which we see and approach the game ourselves when it’s a close race (sorry to Mr Wildes). We can stop with the comparisons and appreciate greatness while we can. We might never see another player, career achievements-wise, come close to half of what any of the juggernauts we talked about.