The Last Dance has opened up the door again for the never-ending debate about whether Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time, or if one of those who came after him can actually knock him out of his throne.
However, it seems like, far from making it more complicated for people to make up their minds, the documentary actually cleared up the air for most people, who doubled-down on their take about Jordan being the greatest player ever.
Obviously, LeBron James is considered by some as the biggest loser of the documentary, as it’ll give him an even harder time changing people’s minds and jumping all the way to the top of the cliff.
Charles Barkley, for instance, talked to Bleacher Report and repeated that he doesn’t see LeBron as someone close to Jordan, comparing him to Magic Johnson instead:
“In my opinion, Michael is the GOAT. LeBron, to me, I’ve always said, he’s closer to Magic Johnson than he is to Michael,” Chuck concluded.
There are clear similarities between the two given their size, versatility, and playmaking abilities and honestly, being compared to the greatest point guard ever is actually an honor. To Barkley, if you want to find someone truly close to MJ, you’d have to look at Kobe Bryant, not just on the court, but when it came to their mentality:
“You know I will never say a bad thing about LeBron James but the closest to Michael I’ve ever seen was Kobe. I mean, a guy that had that singular vision, like ‘I just wanna win and I’m not worried about what my teammates think, I’m not worried about what the coach thinks, I just wanna win’,” Barkley said.
All players wanted to be like Jordan but Kobe was the only one that actually got close to it. He was the Jordan of the next generation and perhaps the closest will ever see to ‘Black Jesus’ again.
