Stephon Marbury on LeBron James: ‘Shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as M.J.’

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Former NBA point guard and two-time All-Star Stephon Marbury seems to believe that Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James doesn’t have a compelling case for being the greatest basketball player of all time — because Marbury doesn’t think James even belongs in the same breath as Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan.

Marbury issued a strong reaction to a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that highlighted that Jordan has the most scoring titles of any player in NBA history.

However, when comparing the resumes of both legends, one can argue that James does indeed belong in the same conversation as Jordan.

Firstly, while Jordan may have significantly more scoring titles to his name, James has scored significantly more points over the course of his NBA career, which is still going strong. So far, James has accumulated a whopping 40,474 points in the NBA during the regular season, the most ever, while Jordan totaled 32,292, which ranks as the fifth-most of any player in NBA history.

The 39-year-old also has the edge over Jordan in All-Star nods (20 compared to 14), All-NBA selections (20 compared to 11) and NBA Finals appearances (10 to six).

Some relevant categories that help Jordan’s case include NBA titles, league MVP awards and Finals MVP awards, as the Bulls legend has the edge over James in each of those departments.

While James has won two fewer NBA titles than Jordan did, the former still has time to cover some ground in that regard. After falling to the Denver Nuggets in the opening round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, James and the Lakers will hope to make a deeper playoff run this season with a new face leading the team from the sidelines in J.J. Redick.

James hasn’t played in a championship series since 2020, when the Lakers eliminated Jimmy Butler and the Miami Heat in six games to win the franchise its 17th NBA title in franchise history.

If James can capture the fifth NBA title of his career this season, that would certainly strengthen his case for being the greatest NBA player of all time.