4 Stats That Prove LeBron James is Better Than Michael Jordan

With the conclusion of ESPN's “The Last Dance,” the age-old debate over who is truly the greatest basketball player of all time between LeBron James and Michael Jordan was revved up yet again. Jordan’s perfect NBA Finals record, killer instinct and overall accolades are the key arguments in favor of MJ being the GOAT. For LeBron, however, the raw numbers speaking to his all-around game speak for themselves. Whether Paul Pierce likes it or not, let's identify four major stats to demonstrate LeBron's overall superiority over MJ.  

4. Shot Creation

A true star makes every single one of his teammats better, and Jordan’s career assist numbers are solid, but not spectacular; he only had one season in which he averaged eight per game, and it came in 1988-89 before he ever won a title. Every other year, MJ never averaged more than 6.3 per game. LBJ has averaged more than 6.3 dimes in 14 out of his 16 seasons in the league. James is actually No. 8 all time in career assists with over 9,000 and counting; Jordan sits at 45th all time with 5633. Getting buckets is essential, but creating them for your teammates is just as important.

3. First Round Playoff Record

James made the playoffs for 13 straight years from 2006 to 2018. In each of those appearances, he was never bounced in the first round even once. Jordan, on the other hand, had three consecutive first-round eliminations in the early stage of his career. Everyone knows about the deep runs he would make starting in the 90s, but Jordan took lumps from better teams like Boston and Detroit that LeBron simply never had to in the opening round.

2. Playoff Scoring

Jordan is rightly recognized one of the greatest scorers of all time, but even his numbers do not compare to LeBron in the postseason. James has scored more than 6,900 points in the playoffs in his carer. Jordan? A shade under 6,000 in the postseason. The most interesting stat to note is that both men have played in 13 postseasons each. Sure, the first round wasn't always a best of seven series, but a difference of nearly 1,000 is an absolute ton -- and the King isn't done.

1. Shooting Efficiency

LeBron James is a much more efficient player than Michael Jordan, period. His shooting splits for his career are 50% from the floor, 34% from three and 73% from the free throw line; Jordan's are 49%/32%/83%. True shooting percentage, an avanced stat that aggregates all field goals and free throws into a unified conversion rate weighted for each shot's value, gilves LeBron a 58.6% score and Jordan a 56.9%. They're awfully close, but LeBron is just better.