Yahoo Finance Lavar Ball settles the Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James GOAT debate
Lavar Ball, the physical manifestation of a hot take with athletic children, has never been shy about offering up his opinion. But of all the questions Ball has confidentially answered throughout the years, he’s somehow avoided the most important basketball question of this era: Who’s the GOAT, Michael Jordan or LeBron James?
If you’re among the millions waiting for Ball to finally weigh in on the subject, you’re in luck. Ball finally gave his take on the GOAT debate while appearing on Club Shay Shay with Shannon Sharpe. While Ball didn’t pick one of his kids, they were involved in Ball’s answer.
The relevant portion of the interview begins around the 1:09:00 mark.
Ball did the wise thing and took his son’s boss. Ball believes Jordan is the GOAT over LeBron. Why? Because Jordan never lost in the NBA Finals. Ball is careful to note that Jordan will only be the GOAT until one of Ball’s kids overtakes Jordan.
Ball’s full answer read:
“The greatest of all-time, how do you measure that? You measure that by your victories and what you did in those victories. I ain’t talking about you got 12 rings and you’ve been on five different teams. I’m talking about a dude who went to the Finals who was the main guy six times in a row ...
“When you have losses on your record, you can’t be the greatest of all-time. That dude ain’t got no losses in the Finals. So it’s always going to be Michael Jordan until my boys succeed that, which is going to happen.”
Jordan went undefeated in his six NBA Finals, though he suffered earlier playoff exits during his career. James has appeared in 10 NBA Finals, winning four of them.
Lavar Ball enjoying LaMelo being selected by Jordan’s Hornets
Ball has been in the news quite a bit since his son, LaMelo, was selected by Jordan’s Charlotte Hornets in the 2020 NBA draft. Ball held a massive party for LaMelo, where Ball again stated he could beat Jordan in 1-on-1. Even LeMelo doubted his dad’s claim.
Jordan has already weighed in on Ball’s claim. In 2017, Jordan said he could beat Ball while playing on one leg. Though Ball and Jordan may interact more following LaMelo getting drafted, a 1-on-1 matchup probably won’t happen.
And if it does, we don’t anticipate Jordan will go easy on Ball just because Ball believes Jordan is the GOAT. We’ve seen “The Last Dance.” We know Jordan can carry a grudge.
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