The Michael Jordan or LeBron James conversation is nothing new. Take it from Kobe, there is no point in entertaining this exercise:
Despite the debate being ultimately futile, it arises frequently on both slow news days and days after LeBron James does something noteworthy (like, say, clinches his eighth straight NBA Finals appearance).Â
And so it is not shocking that ESPN found someone with an impressive basketball resume to lend his two cents into the forced debate. That man would be Isiah Thomas, and he answered the question on the network's morning show, Get Up!:
Thomas sided not with the player he went up against in many a postseason, but rather he chose the man who is still adding to his resume. He also implied/outright stated that the two players aren't close.
“What I’m witnessing in LeBron James is a complete basketball player dominating this period of time,” said Thomas, prior to explaining “I haven’t seen anyone else do that in our league with the exception of two people. That’s Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Russell."
From there he added the rather decisive: “But when you talk about just a basketball player, a complete basketball player, LeBron James is a much better basketball player than Michael Jordan.” It's not the first time that Thomas has made similar comments and probably won't be the last.Â
Lest you think that that's sour grapes, note that Thomas did start by saying he meant "no disrespect" to Jordan, and also said that he constantly is accused of hating on MJ when he voices this opinion.Â
