Mainly via the magic of television, LeBron James, like Michael Jordan before him, is dribbling and dunking his way into living rooms and straight into the hearts of NBA fans worldwide.
While diehards of the world’s premier basketball league still can’t get enough of Jordan 15 years after his retirement, fan worship for James gets more devoted each time he dominates the hardcourt with his superhuman abilities.
An that often leads to the Jordan-James debate about the title of GOAT—Greatest Of All Time.
Although the GOAT thing has been the talk the last few years while James added three NBA titles to his work experience, many thought it wasn’t a topic worth revisiting.
Until Jordan, a six-time NBA titlist with the Chicago Bulls and widely believed as the GOAT until James entered the picture, weighed in playfully on NBC Sports last weekend.
In a 45-second black and white video clip that resembles his Nike commercials, Jordan said: “A lot of talk going on these days about who is the greatest ever, about who has the titles, raw talent, the most clutch moments.”
“I get it. It’s a tough call,” Jordan continues. “I mean, even the jersey numbers are the same. But maybe the best way to settle this debate is to play it out head to head.”
Then suddenly the camera cuts to color clips of future Hall of Fame quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady.
“I’ll watch that,” Jordan concludes in what turns out to be a hype for the National Football League matchup between Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers and Brady’s New England Patriots in Foxboro, Massachusetts, on Sunday (Monday in Manila).
All in good fun after watching Jordan’s tease, James, who left the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Los Angeles Lakers, tweeted an acceptance of the mock challenge.
“IM READY!!!!,” wrote James, who also wears number 23 on his jersey, on his Twitter account. But he added: “Oh my bad I thought, maybe u were, umm never mind back to my regular schedule program.”
As I write this, the Lakers are 2-5 to start the season and according to former player turned game analyst Jalen Rose, the team is about to “blow up” its entire roster, with James deciding “which players get to stay in LA.”
Rose told TMZ Sports it is still mainly basketball chief Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka who decide, but their top priority is to keep James happy and make the Lakers a winning team again.