The GOAT debate over Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James has long since been a tired one. Proponents of both players are so firm in their beliefs that nothing could ever possibly bring them over to the other side, and the result is always the same dusty old debate that inevitably amounts to two people yelling in their own echo chamber.
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It’s rare that we hear anything new or fresh when it comes to MJ vs. LeBron, but Shannon Sharpe brought an interesting perspective on last night’s episode of Nightcap.
Sharpe was reacting to a quote LeBron gave after Tuesday’s loss to the Pistons in which he gave advice to his 18-year old self. The 23-year NBA vet’s words of wisdom boiled down to working hard and tuning out all the outside noise of the people who want to bring you down. Sharpe expanded on that while smartly tying in the GOAT discussion.
“He’s the most loved player, he’s the most talked about, but he’s also the most vilified, and he understands that,” Sharpe said of LeBron.
“No matter what he does — LeBron could have won 10 championships and he was never gonna be loved like Jordan, he was never gonna be beloved like Kobe. It is what it is, ain’t nothing you can do about that,” the NFL legend added.
People have nostalgia for Jordan and Kobe that just isn’t possible for them to have for LeBron yet, because he’s still here and doing his thing. It’s also a different era. Sharpe pointed out the advantages Jordan and Kobe had when it came to winning the hearts of fans.
“Jordan just got such a head start, and he had the shoes, he had all those commercials,” he explained. “Kobe, the same thing, he was a 17-year-old, and he grew up. They watched a kid become a man, become a father, become a husband, right before their eyes.”
MJ paved the way for the truly singular superstar athlete. There was Magic and Bird before him, but they were always inextricably linked. He took superstardom to another level. Everybody wanted to ‘be like Mike.’ Kobe was always viewed as his heir apparent, not only due to the similarity in his game because he was basically anointed by MJ himself.
LeBron was ‘The Chosen One’ since high school, but in the age of social media and increased scrutiny, nobody could ever hope to have a 100% approval rating. Sharpe also brought up a great point that kept LeBron from being as loved as the two guys he’s always been chasing.
“Maybe if he could have accomplished everything he accomplished in Cleveland, maybe,” he said. But the fact that LeBron left the Cavs to go to Miami, burning a lot of bridges along the way, hurt him in the eyes of many.
LeBron also briefly embraced the villain role while in South Beach. He gained some measure of redemption by returning to Cleveland and winning a title, but then he left again for L.A. to join the Lakers.
Jordan played for the Wizards, but that was a final act that can easily be separated from the rest of his career. He is and always will be a Bull. Kobe was never anything but a Laker. LeBron doesn’t have the unbreakable love from one fanbase.
Some Cavs fans never got over “The Decision.” Some Heat fans hate that he left before fulfilling the promises he made in his introduction, when he infamously said, “Not four, not five…” Then there are Lakers fans who have never fully embraced him since he came to them so late in his career.
LeBron has been the most important basketball player of his era, and though it can be fun to do so, it’s ultimately useless to compare him to Jordan, Kobe, or anyone from previous eras. Everything is different now, and for the time he played in, LeBron is the guy, just as Jordan and Kobe were in theirs.
