Michael Jordan or LeBron James earning the label “greatest of all time” will forever be a fluid discussion. Most who witnessed both during their respective playing days tend to side with Jordan, while much of the new-age crowd and analytics-driven basketball fans stand behind James. There’s a solid argument to be made for either player. While there will never be a unanimously accepted factual truth to this question, it’s always interesting to hear the perspectives of former players or coaches who had the closest experiences with both legends. In a celebrity guest appearance with one of the most popular young streamers in the social media world, Andre Iguodala shared his thoughts on Kai Cenat’s live stream when asked about the two most significant players in NBA history.
As much as the number-crunching folks hate to hear an explanation of ‘you just had to be there,’ it’s a common one with some of the greatest athletes of all time. Iguodala followed a similar model when explaining why his GOAT is His Airness, saying that the group he was with was “too young to understand how good MJ was.” As one of the few players who took the court against Jordan and James, his opinion should be valued more than most. According to the former NBA Finals MVP in 2015, he played against Jordan in practices as a rookie when the six-time NBA Champion contemplated making another comeback post-retirement. He would never return to an NBA court, but Iguodala cited the unmatched competitiveness and noted that he could’ve returned at an All-Star level if he desired.
The former Warriors forward was teammates with James during the 2012 London Olympic Games when the duo earned a gold medal together in their first and last time playing alongside one another. Their careers also had a 19-year overlap, during which they faced each other 70 times, including 31 playoff matchups. It’s safe to say that he’s got as good an idea as anyone when comparing the two basketball icons.
Two of the future Hall of Famer’s main arguments when siding with Jordan were his immaculate 6-0 record in the NBA Finals and winning six titles during his short 13-year career. Winning an NBA title in almost 50% of his seasons in the league is absurd, especially when factoring in that he took off two seasons in the middle of his prime. With three titles before his hiatus and three more after, there’s validity to theorize that he could’ve won seven or eight titles had he stuck around rather than trying his luck in baseball.
As captured in the docuseries “The Last Dance,” Iguodala says the ultimate formula for putting Jordan in a category of his own was that he was the most talented and hardest-working player in the league. It’s rare to find an athlete who is the most gifted and physically talented, who also has the largest chip on their shoulder and outworks everyone on their team and across the league. How rare? According to the Warriors legend, who was in the NBA for nearly two decades, it is a rarity level that warrants the GOAT label.
Are Iguodala’s arguments enough to convince more of the young crowd that Jordan was levels ahead of today’s generation, or will he be another expired opinion that gets written off? Not many points of view are more experienced with the two greats than his.
