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WATCH: Michael Jordan responds to being called the ‘GOAT’

Utkarsh Bhatla
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LeBron James’ statement about the time that he felt he had surpassed Michael Jordan and become the greatest player of all time has sparked a massive controversy in the NBA fraternity.

In an interview released on his 34th birthday, LeBron admitted to the fact that after the comeback win in the NBA finals agains the Warriors in 2016, he did feel like becoming the greatest player of all time.

That GSW team had a 73-9 record in the regular season and was one of the best teams ever. Winning 2 games on the road against them after being 3-1 down was no mean feat and LeBron was ecstatic post that.

“I was super, super ecstatic to win one for Cleveland because of the 52-year drought,” James said.

“The first wave of emotion was when everyone saw me crying, like, that was all for 52 years of everything in sports that’s gone on in Cleveland.

“And then after I stopped, I was like … that one right there made you the greatest player of all time.

“Everybody was just talking — how (the Warriors) were the greatest team of all time, like it was the greatest team ever assembled. And for us to come back, you know, the way we came back in that fashion, I was like, ‘You did, you did something special.’ That’s probably one of the only times in my career I felt like, oh, s***, like you did something special.” LeBron added.

Now, the NBA fraternity did not quite like how LeBron himself was claiming to be the GOAT, when none of the other people in that elite list of the ‘greatest basketball players of all time’ have said anything of this sort.

A video of Jordan has resurfaced since then, when in an interview with Michael Wilbon, he was asked if he felt that he was the greatest player of all time.

Jordan was quick to answer that question and said that it would be unfair to think in that manner, especially to the greats who played the game before him.

He hadn’t played against the players of that era(nor will he agains the players of the eras to come) and thus it was completely unfair to have that kind of talk.

MJ then went onto say no one can really know who the greatest player of all time is as players from different eras cannot compete against each other.

Statistics can only help you answer the ‘GOAT’ question to a certain extent, but one can know for sure only when all the legends come and play together, something that can’t ever happen.

Also, it is so heartening to see Jordan really answer that question with so much poise and maturity. While a lot of the NBA world thinks that Jordan is the greatest of all time, thanks to his 6-0 record in NBA finals, Jordan himself is not quite sure.

Check out the video:

Who do you think is the greatest basketball player of all time?

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