The long-standing debate about who is the greatest basketball player of all time or the abbreviated GOAT between Michael Jordan and LeBron James will be talked about forever. One person who gave their opinion on the matter was former basketball player and NBA analyst Charles Barkley.
He would have an answer some might not expect, which is that he doesn't like the discussion since it is “weak journalism.” He would say that both players are “great,” though he has had the experience of facing Jordan when both were in the league at the same time, according to the show “The Steam Room” with colleague Ernie Johnson.
“I was kind of shocked the other night when Ernie [Johnson] said the stat,” Barkley said. “I don't get into the debate between Michael and LeBron because I think it's weak journalism when guys on television, radio trying to get fools to call in to order, they're both great, great, great, great, great, I put Michael Jordan's the best basketball player I often played against.”
Charles Barkley on the debate between Michael Jordan and LeBron James
Lebron James and Michael Jordan on court during halftime during the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
David Richard-Imagn Images
In terms of the statistic that Barkley mentions, he would talk about Jordan having more 30-point games than James in the regular season by three contests, despite the latter having played seven more seasons. Barkley would find it as an “astonishing stat,” though he would say that James is “an amazing man and a hell of a player.”
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“These young kids, they played against LeBron, but I was kind of caught off guard last week when Ernie said, ‘He was only like three behind him in 3- point games or something like that.' And I was like, ‘And he's played like seven more years.' That's an astonishing stat,” Barkley said. “As great as LeBron is, he's still behind Michael Jordan in 30-point games, and he's played seven more seasons. That is astonishing. Even if you think LeBron is the GOAT, you wouldn't have known that. And I'm never going to say anything about anything bad about LeBron because he's an amazing man and a hell of a player.”
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James is currently averaging 23 points, eight rebounds, and 9.1 assists per game while shooting 49.5 percent from the field and 35.9 percent from beyond the arc as he is in his seventh season with the Los Angeles Lakers.