Who is the greatest basketball player of all time? Is it Michael Jordan or Lebron James? Well, even to this day we still don’t have an answer to this question. I’ll lay out below why I think there’s an easy conclusion that we can all come to.

First we have to determine, what makes a GOAT? Is it championship rings? If that was the case, we could crown Bill Russell today with his 11 rings. But it’s not that simple. Championship rings have to be examined through the lens of context. For example, during Russell’s time playing, the playoff format was much different and there was only one round of playoffs to get to the Finals. Also during Russell’s career, there was only an average of 8 teams in the NBA total, so this is just one example of how rings can be misleading. Another example of why rings can be misleading is visualized below. Currently the top 6 players in terms of total rings all played for the Celtics in the late 50s-60’s. Michael Jordan is currently tied for 5th all time behind 11 other players. Lebron James is actually all the way down at the bottom of the list with 4 rings. Right away you can tell that rings do not determine a player’s greatness, and the majority of guys near the top of the list are never mentioned in the GOAT conversation.

But the two guys that are always mentioned in that conversation: Lebron and Michael Jordan, it’s a much closer comparison. Michael Jordan notoriously is 6-0 in his 6 Finals appearances. Lebron, with his most recent championship win, is now 4-6 in his 10 Finals appearances. James has either been the best or second best team in ten of his 17 seasons. This means that 58.82% of the time, he would make the Finals and finish the season at first or second. Jordan was first or second in six of his 15 seasons. He was the best in the league 40% of the time. Jordan has missed the playoffs 2 times in his career, meaning he finished on a team that was ranked 17th or worse 13.3% of the time. While Jordan has a better percentage of being the best team in the league, he also has had a higher percentage of his seasons where he wasn’t even one of the best 4 teams in the league. Here’s how their playoff stats match up against each other.

But Finals wins and playoff performances aren’t the only thing that determines who is truly the greatest of all time. So is it overall career accolades? You can see below that it’s a really tight race in terms of career accolades. Both have been the Finals MVP in every Finals they’ve played in, but Jordan does have the advantage there. It’s difficult to say which resume is more impressive, and this chart really shows just how close they both are.

LeBron James	Michael Jordan	Advantage
Future Hall of Famer	Hall of Famer	Equal
4x NBA Champion (4-6 Finals Record)	6x NBA Champion (6-0 Finals Record	Jordan
4x NBA Final MVP	6x NBA Finals MVP	Jordan
4x MVP	5x MVP	Jordan
16x All Star	14x All Star	James
16x All NBA Team	11x All NBA Team	James
6x All Defensive Player	9x All Defensive Player (87-88 Defensive Player of the Year)	Jordan
03-04 Rookie of the Year	84-85 Rookie of the Year	Equal

The next factor that needs to be explored is career statistics as a whole. Lebron just finished his 17th season in the league, and it doesn’t seem like he has lost a step at all. Michael Jordan played 15 seasons, and played much less playoff games than Lebron has. So understandably, Lebron’s career stats will be overall better, but the graphic below is pretty jarring.

To get a better idea of where people stand on this issue, I decided to reach out to an expert. I spoke with David Malandra who is a Philadelphia sports reporter who covers the Eagles and 76ers. In an email David said ” For me Michael was the greatest player I’d ever seen play… But honestly with the body of work Lebron has put together, it’s hard to say for sure if one is better than the other.” Sure there are people who have their one guy, but hearing that from someone who’s been around professional teams and watched both for the entirety of their careers, it’s very telling.

So the question still remains: Who is the GOAT? I think it’s Lebron AND MJ. It sounds crazy, but I think there is a lot to be said about comparing players from different eras. During Michael Jordan’s entire career, he was undoubtedly the best player in the league. His dominance in the Finals is something that shouldn’t be understated. But, the same can be said about Lebron James. Since he entered the league in 2003 as “The Chosen One” he has not failed to be the most consistent and durable player in NBA history.

Both players have elevated themselves above anyone else in the conversation. But my question is: Why can’t both be appreciated for their greatness in the time they played? They didn’t even play the same position. They are completely different players in the way they approached the game. Jordan’s teams needed him to score every single chance he could or else they would lose. Lebron has been on teams that needed his passing and rebounding ability more than his scoring. But regardless, both are historically great offensive players. So why do we still try to compare them like they are the same player who dealt with the same circumstances? Kobe Bryant is a more accurate comparison to Michael Jordan, just like Magic Johnson is a better comparison to Lebron James. With that being said, I think they are the 2 greatest players of all time and instead of debating who is better, we should just appreciate the both of them for what they are.