NBA star puts LeBron James ahead of Michael Jordan on his GOAT list

Golden State Warriors star Draymond Green chose a side in a recent interview in the great debate over who is the greatest basketball player of all time.

For Green, it came down to Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan and current Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James. Jordan won six championships with the Bulls and was undefeated in the NBA Finals while James won four championships with three different teams and at one point had been in the Finals eight consecutive years either with the Miami Heat or the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Green said there was something that separated James from Jordan in his mind.

“My top 5 is LJ 1, MJ 2, Kobe 3, Steph 4, Shaq 5,” Green said on the latest episode of “UNINTERRUPTED.” “By 2005, LeBron was the best player in the NBA. In 2020, he was still the best player in the NBA. He was the best player in the NBA no matter what the game did. The game went from two slugs like slow big men to a stretch four big man, to like back to two big man to like no big man – and he’s been the best no matter what.”

WARNING: EXPLICIT LANGUAGE

Green mentioned that James had to go up against the “greatest team ever assembled” – the 73-win Warriors team. James and the Cavaliers defeated the Warriors in 2016.

“When you look at the teams that LeBron has carried to championships or carried to the Finals,” Green said. “MJ didn’t beat the greatest team ever assembled. Nor did he run up against the greatest team ever assembled every year.”

Green was a second-round pick of the Warriors in 2012. Since then, he’s won four championships and has been a four-time All-Star and seven-time All-Defensive team member.