Related If LeBron James and Michael Jordan played at the same time (age-wise), who would be considered the best basketball player of all time?
This can’t be answered really, but let’s pretend that it could.
Let’s pretend that they’re in the league at the same ages. And let’s keep their teammates the same (because it gets weird to think about otherwise). Let’s pretend that they’re in opposite leagues (so at age 25, it’s Jordan’s 1989 Eastern Conference on one side and LeBron’s 2010 Eastern Conference on the other side.
Age 19: LeBron breaks into the league on a terrible Cavs team, lifting them 18 wins to 35–47. It’s not a great season, but he gets Rookie of the Year. Jordan is in college.
Age 20: LeBron jumps, averages a 27/7/7, finishes 6th in MVP voting, but Cleveland only goes 42–40 and misses the playoffs. Jordan is in college.
Age 21: LeBron has another great year, finishes 2nd in the MVP voting, and Cleveland goes 50–32 making the second round and LeBron averages a 31/8/6 in the postseason. Jordan has a great rookie year, winning Rookie of the Year and finishing 6th in MVP voting. The Bulls have a losing record but make the playoffs, getting knocked out in the first round (Jordan averages 29/6/9). It’s obviously close, but I’d give this one to LeBron.
Age 22: LeBron has a less impressive season, finishing 5th in the MVP voting, but lifts his team all the way to the Finals with one of the better Conference Finals performances ever (and then gets shut down in the Finals against an outstanding Spurs team). Jordan, on the other hand, misses almost the entire year, but plays transcendently in the Bulls’ first round loss to the ’86 Celtics. This easily goes to LeBron, who actually played a full year.
Age 23: LeBron has another strong year, finishing 4th in the MVP while leading his team to the 2nd round to lose to the eventual champion ’08 Celtics. Jordan averaged an eye-bleeding 37/5/5 (2nd in MVP voting) but his team had a losing record. The Bulls made the playoffs anyway and were knocked out in the first round, but Jordan played great. From a team success point of view LeBron had the better year, but I like Jordan’s all-around dominance (and his teammates were catastrophic).
Age 24: LeBron wins his first MVP, averaging a 28/8/7 and leading a lackluster roster to a 66–16 season. His Cavs fell in the Conference Finals to the Magic, but LeBron averaged a ridiculous 35/9/7 in the playoffs on amazing shooting. Jordan won his first MVP the same year, averaging a 35/6/6 and his Bulls got to to the second round before getting knocked out 4–1 by the ‘88 Pistons. Jordan averages a 36/7/4 in the playoffs. I feel uncomfortable calling this one. They’re both MVP seasons, both monster playoffs. I guess I lean LeBron because both rosters were terrible and LeBron did more with his, but it’s really, really close, and I could see calling it a tie. In fact, I think I’ll leave it a tie.
Age 25: LeBron wins another MVP, leads the Cavs’ roster to a #1 seed, but the team falls in the second round to the veteran Celtics (despite LeBron playing fantastically). Jordan finishes 2nd in the MVP to Magic (probably shouldn’t have though) and leads his Bulls (47–35) to the Conference Finals to lose to the Pistons 4–2. I lean Jordan here – I think his regular season was slightly better (though LeBron did a better job with his teammates), and Jordan’s team did better in the playoffs. But in the interest of fairness, I’m going to call this a tie too, because I think it’s close.
Age 26: LeBron jumps to the Heat, puts up a strong but disappointing year, finishing 3rd in the MVP voting. Jordan finishes 3rd in the MVP voting (but for no reason I can see) and leads his 55–47 Bulls to a narrow loss to the Pistons in the Conference Finals. LeBron’s Heat get to the Finals (where they presumably face the ’90 Pistons) and LeBron shrinks against the Pistons defense, with a remarkably unimpressive performance. This one goes to Jordan.
Age 27: LeBron comes back swinging, has a dominant year, wins the MVP, leads the Heat to a 2 seed, plays insane basketball through the playoffs (+10.5 BPM) and leads the Heat to the Finals. But Jordan has an even more insane year, winning the MVP, leading the Bulls to a 1-seed and a Finals berth (with a +14.6 BPM in the playoffs). In reality, both teams won their Finals, but in a ’12 Heat vs ’91 Bulls matchup, I’m going Bulls by a landslide. This was a great LeBron season, but Jordan was better. Full stop.
Age 28: LeBron wins another MVP and leads the Heat to a 1 seed and another stomp through the conference (LeBron with a +10.4 playoff BPM). But Jordan wins another MVP, leads the Bulls to an historically great 1 seed and dominates the playoffs (+9.9 BPM). Both teams won their Finals this year, but I’d give the Finals to the ’92 Bulls here. This one is really close, but I’m going Jordan.
Age 29: LeBron finishes 2nd in MVP voting to Durant, and leads a suddenly weak Heat roster (Wade was a shadow of himself) to a 2 seed, gets through the playoffs and plays great (+10.3 playoff BPM). Jordan finishes 3rd in MVP (for not much of a reason), leads the Bulls to a 2-seed and drags them through the playoffs (+11.6 playoff BPM). This was a relative off year for both teams, and both the ’14 Heat and ’93 Bulls were massive carry-jobs (neither would have sniffed the Conference Finals without their star). This one is close, but I’d give the Finals matchup to the ’93 Bulls over the ’14 Heat. And I’d give the year to Jordan, if not by a ton.
Age 30: LeBron jumps to Cleveland, finishes 3rd in MVP voting and drags the injury-riddled Cavs roster to the Finals. A great year but not his best. Jordan is retired and doesn’t play. LeBron puts up a heroic effort against the eventual champion Warriors.
Age 31: LeBron finishes 3rd in the MVP again, but puts together a transcendent playoffs and leads the Cavs to a defeat of the 73–9 Warriors. Jordan comes back from retirement late in the year and the Bulls are knocked out in the second round. This one goes to LeBron by a mile.
Age 32: LeBron finishes 4th in the MVP, but submits a fantastic playoffs (+9.8 playoff BPM) and leads the Cavs to the Finals. Jordan wins the MVP and leads the ’96 Bulls to one of the greatest seasons ever (+10.7 playoff BPM). In the Finals it’s no contest, as the ’17 Cavs get trounced by another historically great team. This season goes to Jordan.
Age 33: LeBron finishes 2nd in the MVP, submits an ATG carry-job in the playoffs (+12.7 playoff BPM) and carries a weak Cavs roster to the Finals. Jordan finishes 2nd in the MVP and has a strong playoffs (+9.9 playoff BPM) leading the Bulls to the Finals. In the Finals matchup there’s no way I take the ’18 Cavs over the ’97 Bulls. But LeBron’s 2018 playoffs were some of the greatest ever, and I genuinely believe that he was better than Jordan in the postseason that year. I’m calling this a tie.
Age 34: LeBron jumps to the Lakers and has a strong but not ATG year (missed time with an injury, not Top 10 in MVP voting). Jordan wins another MVP and leads the Bulls to a championship. Not a great year by Jordan standards, but better than LeBron’s year. Jordan gets this.
Age 35: LeBron finishes 2nd in MVP voting, leading the Lakers to the championship. Jordan is retired.
Age 36: LeBron has a another year of part-time strong regular season performance and great playoff performance. The Lakers don’t get out of the first round. Jordan is retired.
Age 37: LeBron has a strong year (but not dominant) and the Lakers miss the playoffs. Jordan is retired.
Ages 38+ haven’t been played out yet.
So the breakdown?
In years where both players were actually playing, Jordan wins those years 7–2–3. I could see some give or take on some of those decisions, but it’s pretty clear that Jordan was the more dominant player.
But there were 7 years were Jordan simply wasn’t playing (because he was in college, or was in one of his two retirements). And in those years, LeBron was pretty clearly better (because Jordan didn’t play). And those weren’t chump years either. Those include LeBron’s 2016 season, his 2020 season and his 2015. Those are some ATG years, compared with nothing from Jordan.
I think it would be hard for most people to vote against Jordan. When both players were playing Jordan was better (generally) and when their teams met in the Finals (hypothetically) Jordan’s teams were always better.
But in overall career value, LeBron’s argument is pretty imposing. Yeah, Jordan is better for those 12 seasons, but LeBron brings another 3 ATG seasons and 4 extremely strong seasons to the table where Jordan brings bupkis.
So it’d still be the way it generally is, with most favoring Jordan, but with a devoted minority favoring LeBron. I think them playing together would actually make Jordan look better, because LeBron would have lost two of his rings (‘12 and ‘13) in this scenario.