The LeBron James vs. Michael Jordan debates have sparked back up with 'The Last Dance' airing.
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00:00 The last dance and the lack of sports
00:02 has renewed the greatest sports argument of all time.
00:05 LeBron James versus Michael Jordan.
00:08 And with the latest installments of the documentary
00:10 focusing on the Dreams team who played during Jordan's day,
00:13 it leads to a natural question.
00:15 Which GOAT faced greater competition, LeBron or MJ?
00:19 For more, I'm joined by our Ben Pickman
00:21 and the fantasy exec, Corey Parson.
00:23 Corey, let's start with you.
00:24 Who faced tougher teams, LeBron or Jordan?
00:26 I'm going with King James, LBJ,
00:28 the guy who, in my opinion, is the GOAT.
00:30 I mean, listen, just look at recent memory.
00:32 When you go to that Golden State Warrior Dynasty,
00:35 they were the-- they're the bulls of this era of basketball.
00:37 Kevin Durant team actually got a victory, the Cavaliers did,
00:40 over the 73-win Warrior teams.
00:42 You look at those great battles with the Spurs and all
00:45 the Hall of Famers like Greg Popovich and Tim Duncan
00:47 and those guys put together how tough they were to beat.
00:50 And then you go back to his early years,
00:52 when he was going up against the OG Big Three in Boston.
00:55 Another team, late Hall of Famers.
00:57 So I think that LeBron James played stiffer competition
01:00 than Mike has throughout the course of his career.
01:02 Yeah, Ben, one of my stock lines is every team LeBron
01:06 beat in the finals is better than any team Jordan did.
01:08 What's your retort?
01:10 Yeah, I mean, James has played in basically
01:12 two different NBAs, right?
01:13 He's played in this three-point era
01:15 that was run, as Corey mentioned,
01:16 by the Golden State Warriors and also the Spurs.
01:19 But he also played in this kind of more two-point,
01:21 in the paint era of the 2000s, right?
01:23 And when James was entering the NBA,
01:25 the league is not as talent-rich as it is now.
01:27 You know, in 2004, 2005, 2006,
01:30 the league was just not as strong.
01:31 Now, of course, the 2000 Celtics, 2008 Celtics,
01:34 as Corey mentioned, were an incredibly tough team.
01:36 But when he entered, not as good of an NBA.
01:38 Now, while Jordan entered the NBA,
01:39 there were only just 23 teams.
01:41 Now, when they won their first title
01:43 on that initial three-peat, there were 27 teams.
01:46 Now, the Dream Team, as we know,
01:47 is loaded with Hall of Famers, 11 of 12 Hall of Famers.
01:51 And we have this talent-rich NBA
01:53 compared to a more talent-diluted league
01:56 when James entered the NBA.
01:57 Now, when Jordan and the Bulls, they finished,
02:00 there were 29 teams in the league.
02:01 And so you can argue that it's a little more diluted then,
02:03 and so the league is not as talented.
02:05 But I would say, especially for that first three-peat,
02:08 and basing this argument on the first three-peat,
02:09 that James, that Jordan, excuse me,
02:12 actually played a slightly more difficult competition.
02:15 - It's an interesting point, 'cause you could say
02:16 that Jordan came into a tougher league
02:18 that got easier and the inverse for LeBron.
02:22 But when you're talking about a Dream Team,
02:23 that was an assemblage of talent.
02:25 And I think the assemblage of talent that LeBron faced
02:28 was slightly better than the squads Jordan did.
02:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]