By Trent Balley

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It’s a billion-dollar question these days… who’s the greatest NBA player of all time? The answer can vary, as we see in the following graphic:

The most common choice is Michael Jordan, known by basketball fanatics as “MJ.” But there’s a very compelling second party… LeBron James. The two have been attached at the hip in terms of the “greatest of all time” (G.O.A.T.) conversation in the recent years. As we can see, the consensus is Jordan. Furthermore, if we check out the age demographic, the younger generations have a soft spot for James, but the favorite is still “His Airness,” Michael Jordan.

It’s visibly evident that the demographics in terms of age groupings favor Jordan still, though the 18-29 year-old age group has the most James supporters. However, to play devil’s advocate further, take a look at the career totals for these two titans:

LeBron James clearly has the longevity argument on his side, as he’s currently playing in his 17th season, while Michael Jordan only played in 15 seasons total. One thing that cannot be disputed, however, is the scoring average all throughout each respective player’s career. Check out their scoring average trends:

Jordan’s career scoring numbers peak early, and then generally decline, as we can see in the chart above. On the other hand, James’ numbers reach a high and then plateau, and if anything, they slowly decline. Regardless of the statistics, the people have spoken. Here’s a graphic created from geotagged Twitter data to determine who the G.O.A.T. is by state:

When it’s broken down by state, LeBron James actually wins the debate, 28 states to Michael Jordan’s 22. The bottom line is, no matter how we slice it — by fan’s age, by fan’s state or by player’s career statistics — the whole G.O.A.T. debate in the NBA may be a lot closer than some want to admit.

SOURCES: 1. https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jamesle01.html // 2. https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jordami01.html // 3. https://sportsnaut.com/2019/01/michael-jordan-lebron-james-nba-goat/ // 4. https://www.si.com/nba/2019/03/07/lebron-james-michael-jordan-nba-career-points-list-eight-graphs // 5. https://www.nba.com/article/2019/03/05/michael-jordan-lebron-james-settling-goat-debate // 6. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/jun/20/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers-nba-title-goat // 7. https://www.businessinsider.com/jordan-lebron-goat-debate-americans-jordan-2019-3