The debate between Michael Jordan and LeBron James has been raging for a long time, even though most fans widely recognize MJ as the GOAT. The fact that he never lost in the NBA Finals is a massive mark in Jordan’s favor and often something that’s used to talk down LeBron’s case.
While there’s a lot more to it than just the number of rings, one aspect of James playing in the current era is that he is subjected to a lot of daily criticism. And NBA analyst Colin Cowherd has suggested that if MJ and LeBron played in each other’s era, then history would look favorably on LeBron, and Jordan would be the one getting the criticism.
“History would be much more favorable to LeBron. Not that he’ll be criticized, but he would be far less criticized if he played when Jordan did and Jordan played now, Jordan would be pummeled… Michael is he was kind of fortunate. You could have a lot of flaws in the 90s. Am I wrong on that?”
The advent of social media and many more opinion shows on sports media than ever before mean that the stars of today are subject to more scrutiny than ever before. It does make sense that if MJ were being analyzed game by game, then he would have caught a lot more hate than he did at the time.
However, to suggest that MJ wasn’t criticized harshly at the time is also false, the constant discussions about him being a selfish player and his gambling persisted throughout his entire career.
It’s always impossible to compare players across eras in the NBA, and it gets even more difficult when talking about the GOAT conversation. Whatever Cowherd may say, though, until James wins 6 championships, it’s unlikely that the majority would change their mind on the debate.
