Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States, and her brother Craig Robinson appeared on the latest episode of the All The Smoke podcast, where they were asked to rank Michael Jordan, LeBron James, and Kobe Bryant. While that might be difficult for some, Obama gave her rankings without much hesitation.
“MJ, LeBron, Kobe,” Obama said.
Obama isn’t a huge basketball fan, but she is a Chicago native. So, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Jordan, the Chicago Bulls icon, took the top spot for her. He remains the most popular pick for that GOAT title as well.
Jordan won six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, one DPOY, and 10 scoring titles in his NBA career. He was a perfect 6-0 in the NBA Finals, with none of those six series going to seven games either. Jordan also made 14 All-Star, 11 All-NBA, and nine All-Defensive teams.
While Jordan continues to widely be regarded as the GOAT, a growing number are starting to side with James, who has won four titles, four Finals MVPs, four MVPs, a scoring title, and an assists title. His longevity has led to him becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and making 21 All-Star, 21 All-NBA, and six All-Defensive teams.
Last but not least, we get to Bryant, who won five titles, two Finals MVPs, one MVP, and two scoring titles. He made 18 All-Star, 15 All-NBA, and 12 All-Defensive teams.
Bryant tends to split opinion, with quite a few former players believing he was better than James, while the media ranks him much lower. Robinson, who played college basketball at Princeton University, doesn’t come under that category of former players, though. He went with the same order as his sister.
Barack Obama’s Thoughts On The Michael Jordan-LeBron James Debate
Unlike his wife, Barack Obama is a huge basketball fan. Obama has shared his all-time starting lineup, and it includes both Jordan and James. He has also spoken about the Jordan-James debates on DeepCut with VicBlends.
“I’m from Chicago and MJ remains the GOAT,” Obama said. “I will say this, that if you’re just looking at, let’s say, a 10-year slice, I would say that MJ’s peak was higher than LeBron’s. I have to give credit to LeBron’s longevity. And so, they are both great in slightly different ways, and they are both champions.”
At the end of the day, it comes down to your preference. James is going to set records that are going to be almost impossible to break. He just averaged 24.4 points per game in his 22nd season in the NBA and looks to have enough in the tank to carry on for a couple more campaigns.
James is unlikely to equal Jordan when it comes to titles and major accolades, though. There will be those who believe his longevity still puts him on top, while others wouldn’t think that’s enough.
We did our own comparison of the careers of the two icons, and Jordan does come out on top over James.
