One would think that comparing NBA eras is something that happens today, but that’s not the case. It seems like every great player in the league has been questioned about who is the GOAT at some point, even if that means comparing players and teams from different eras. It is currently happening with LeBron James, who gets compared to Michael Jordan every single day, but this also happened to Michael during his active days.
Jordan once was asked how he felt about his career achievements and if they put him ahead of big players like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Jordan replied by saying that’s a question he can’t even answer.
“No. I think that’s something that I really can’t say can be established,” Jordan said. “Each of us played in different eras, with different teams, with different levels of success and to compare all of them and say one’s better than the next is an unfair justice to the art or to the artists. You know, being that Magic Johnson, Wilt Chamberlain and all the guys before me were the artists of this game of basketball and we’ve all learned from them and we’ve improved the picture to a certain extent and to say that one improvement is better than all of it? It’s an unfair assessment.”
Someone asked Michael Jordan once if his career accomplishments put him above past greats and this was his response: pic.twitter.com/0wSQr0aNjU
— GoodGuysBets (@goodguysbet) October 8, 2020
Every great NBA player has been questioned about this, apparently. The GOAT debate will always be a hot and controversial topic and nobody would agree that this or that player is the greatest of all time. Jordan had a clear response to that matter, it’s unfair to compare eras but the NBA community will probably keep doing it.
