Here's Why Damian Lillard Believes Michael Jordan Will Always Be Considered the G.O.A.T.

Damian Lillard doesn't think NBA fans will ever allow another player to replace Michael Jordan as the G.O.A.T.

LeBron James is a historically great basketball player. But Michael Jordan is still the G.O.A.T. At least, that’s what we argued when we put out this definitive list of sports G.O.A.T.s on Wednesday—and we’re sticking to it. At this exact moment, there is no topping MJ.

Many, er, most NBA fans would agree with us. MJ played in six NBA Finals and won six NBA Finals, and that in and of itself is enough to convince most people that MJ is, was, and always will be the reigning NBA G.O.A.T.

Damian Lillard doesn’t sound like he’s 100 percent convinced that that’s the case, though. On Wednesday, he was holding a Twitter Q&A with fans when one asked him if he thinks LeBron will ever have a chance to take the G.O.A.T. title from MJ.

And Lillard provided an interesting response. He suggested that there are going to be players who come along with more talent and skill than MJ. But the Trail Blazers star said that those players are going to have trouble passing MJ on fans’ top five lists because people simply won’t be able to admit that someone is better than MJ overall.

Lillard isn’t wrong. There are going to be some people who will refuse to move MJ out of their top slot, no matter what other players do. LeBron could go and win the next five titles to end his career, and some people would still choose MJ over him.

But the thing about the G.O.A.T. argument, both in basketball and in other sports, is that it’s so subjective. So there is a chance that, in 10 or 20 years, all of the people who grew up watching LeBron play could overpower the pro-MJ crowd and christen him as the new G.O.A.T. But for now, as Lillard said, it doesn’t look like NBA fans are going to let that happen.

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