Dwyane Wade said it himself, Michael Jordan is The GOAT and not LeBron James.
At the end of May 2022, we can finally lay to rest the most important sports debate of all time: Who is The GOAT between Michael Jordan and LeBron James? Dwyane Wade wanted that smoke.
In a round table featuring many up-and-coming NBA and WNBA stars, Wade picked his childhood hero over his former teammate. Wade grew up in Chicago and idolized Jordan. Though he admitted to never watching Bill Russell or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wade made it abundantly clear that Jordan will always be The GOAT in his eyes. Of course, a younger generation will be forever Team LeBron.
Although Wade was playing nice, he should have pushed back and said there is only one GOAT: MJ.
Dwyane Wade said Michael Jordan is The GOAT and not LeBron James
Admittedly, this never had to be that hard. YouTube is out there, and so is Space Jam. While this argument is not as clear cut as Tom Brady and Wayne Gretzky being the respective GOATS in their sports, James is not catching Jordan in NBA Finals. Not only that, but no athlete may ever be as revered as what Jordan was in his prime. It was a different era, but James will never catch him.
Besides ruining Space Jam and switching teams every four years, James will never have that dog inside him that Jordan did. Exceptionally petty and unbelievably competitive, Jordan’s attitude towards crushing the opposition may never be rivaled. James has been absolutely incredible as a top-five player all time, but there is a generation who sees Kobe Bryant as its GOAT over him, too.
Ultimately, this is not a Bobby Orr, Joe Montana or Jim Brown type of debate. Jordan coming back from retirement to hand the John Stockton-Karl Malone Utah Jazz back-to-back L’s in the NBA Finals cemented his GOAT status. The Last Dance came along at a time when we needed it. Jordan left no stone unturned. He may have had no problem with The Glove, but he ain’t no Isiah Thomas.
James would need to win like three more titles for him even think about to overtaking The GOAT.