Michael Jordan is considered as the greatest basketball player of all time by most fans in the NBA community. A huge reason behind MJ’s legendary status is his brilliant scoring ability.
The Chicago Bulls legend has 10 scoring titles to his name, which is the most in NBA history. But would Jordan have had a similar level of success if he had played in today’s era? Well, according to his former teammate Dennis Rodman, Michael Jordan would have averaged 50 points per game if he had played in the modern era. Rodman made this claim back in 2019 in an interview with ESPN.
“That has been a big debate for a while now,” Rodman said. “… If Michael played in this era, he would average 50 points a game. LeBron is a great talent, no doubt, and he is probably in the top 3 players that ever played with Kobe, Magic, Kareem, but Michael is right there. I don’t know why you guys discuss who the GOAT is.”
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There are no doubts that Michael Jordan was an elite scorer. After all, he had eight seasons where he averaged more than 30.0 PPG.
On top of that, the current NBA is tailored for players who live on the offensive end of the floor. Rodman may have exaggerated a bit by saying MJ would average 50.0 PPG, but it wouldn’t have been difficult for ‘His Airness’ to cross the 40.0 PPG threshold, to say the least.
Would Michael Jordan Still Be Considered The GOAT If He Played In Today’s NBA?
For what it’s worth, no one would bat an eye about Michael Jordan’s ability to score even if he played in the modern-day NBA. Head coach Jeff Van Gundy once claimed that MJ would easily average 40.0 PPG had he played in this era.
But keeping that aside for a second, how would Michael Jordan’s status as the GOAT be impacted? Well, former NBA player Gilbert Arenas claimed that the Bulls legend’s off-court habits would have prevented him from having a perfect image. After all, this era is overloaded with each and every action of any player being at risk of going viral on social media.
Sure, Mike would have adjusted to it. But it would have definitely tarnished his near-perfect image.
All things considered, Jordan would still have been considered the GOAT on the basis of his sheer talent.
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