Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr is more qualified than most to speak about Michael Jordan and LeBron James, widely regarded as the two greatest players of all time. Kerr played with Jordan on the Chicago Bulls, and he has coached against James and coached him, too.
So, when Kerr recently sat down for an interview with Charles Bethea of The New Yorker, he was asked how James compares to Jordan.
“LeBron’s brilliance doesn’t lie in the same skill set that Michael’s did,” Kerr said. “It lies in more of a holistic game where he dominates with his pace and his athleticism, and his passing. I’ve always felt scoring is secondary for LeBron, but he’s the greatest scorer in the history of the N.B.A.!”
Despite not necessarily being a score-first player, James is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 43,440 points. Bethea said this was almost incidental.
“Yeah, incidentally,” Kerr stated. “Some of that is longevity: he’s a machine. I mean, I think he’s literally the greatest athlete on the face of the planet and in the course of human history. Playing with Michael, I saw the killer instinct, the emotional dominance he had over not only the other team but the officials, the entire arena. I don’t see that with LeBron. So they’re different, as far as the emotional part of it.
“Everybody came into a series against Michael knowing they were going to lose,” Kerr added. “There’s never been anybody like that. Maybe Bill Russell. But I’ve never felt the same way on a basketball floor as I did with Michael.”
Kerr was right to feel invincible when he was Jordan’s teammate on the Bulls from 1995 to 1998. Knocking him out of the playoffs was a near-impossible task in the 1990s.
Jordan led the Bulls to two separate three-peats in the decade. They first won three in a row from 1991 to 1993 and then from 1996 to 1998. The Bulls probably would have won more had Jordan not retired in 1993 to play baseball. He would return in March 1995, but wasn’t quite the same after an 18-month hiatus.
That helped the Orlando Magic beat the Bulls in the Eastern Conference Semifinals in 1995. It remained the only playoff series that Kerr lost with Jordan. They’d even get their revenge the following year, sweeping the Magic in the Conference Finals.
Jordan would end up winning 25 of the last 26 playoff series of his NBA career. Talk about utter domination. Kerr previously said Jordan spiritually dominated games and that everyone in the league was scared of him. That’s the ultimate compliment.
To go with the six titles, Jordan won six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, one DPOY, and 10 scoring titles. A resume that good explains why he remains the most popular pick for that GOAT title.
James has built a compelling case, too, though. He has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, one scoring title, and one assists title. James doesn’t have as many major honors, but his longevity is incredible. The 41-year-old is still going strong today and is setting records that are going to be almost impossible to break. You get why Kerr thinks James is the greatest athlete ever.
Kerr has coached against James for over a decade, but he did get one opportunity to coach him. That was, of course, at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Kerr was the head coach for Team USA, and James was one of the many big names on the roster. He was just blown away watching how the Los Angeles Lakers superstar operates behind the scenes.
Team USA would go on to win gold in 2024, and James was named MVP of the tournament. That was just yet another feather in his cap.
James still has time to add to his resume, too. You wonder just how much more impressive it’s going to be when he finally decides to walk away from the game.
