Opinion – Sandro Macedo: Is Lebron James bigger than Michael Jordan?

Arguments about who are the best athletes in a sport are as inevitable as they are delicious and silly. When they’re from different generations, the debates get even sillier… and delicious and inevitable.

Often a title can make all the difference to end the conversation. Messi opened the sea in Barcelona and turned water into sangria (I saw it more than once), but it’s no use, as he didn’t have the Cup, he was smaller than Maradona. Only now, after the World Cup in Qatar, have devotees of the Maradonian church accepted putting Messi alongside the controversial number 10 champion in 1986; on the side, not above —in fact, Cris Ronaldo, who previously shared debates with Messi, has become a minor card of this Super Trump.

For many flamenguistas, Zico could have been as big as Maradona if he had won the 1982 Cup. And not only for the flamenguistas but for their friends, their children, their acquaintances and even their mothers-in-law —in respect for Moroccan pain, this will be the only reference to Flamengo in today’s column.

But the genius Galinho arrived injured in 1986, while Maradona, possessed, became a myth with the conquest in Mexico.

But numbers and records do not explain everything. There are a lot of “ifs” that go into the account to torture the math in favor of whoever you want.

A more recent example came from the NBA. Lebron James, the king, beat the record for the highest basket in history, which seemed unbeatable, by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who added 38,387. With about 10 seconds left in the third quarter, James made the record-breaking basket with his famous fadeaway – when he throws his body back, escaping the guard and launching the ball. The fadeaway, by the way, was perfected by Kobe Bryant and was previously a trademark of Michael Jordan.

After that basket, the game stopped, Lebron was honored and moved. On the way back to the match, the Lakers star had just two points in the entire fourth quarter, his team left the court defeated by the Oklahoma City Thunder and is at risk of being out of the playoffs. All smaller compared to Lebron’s record, apparently.

Lebron has had a great individual season and should still have a couple of years left in his career. Which means it should exceed 40,000 points and it will take a few generations to reach it.

And with all that Lebron becomes the greatest of all? No way. In this window, he earns a number 2 honors, well behind Michael Jordan, who is only fifth on the list of top scorers, with “only” 32,292.

Lebron has four championship rings, won with three different teams. Jordan had six, all in the same decade — and including more than a year of retirement to play baseball.

Lebron’s defenders say he would win more if he didn’t have to face superteams, like the Spurs of Duncan and Ginobili or the Warriors of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, which also had Kevin Durant.

In his second spell at the Cavaliers, Lebron managed to win a final, turning a best decision of 7 that he lost by 3 to 1, something unheard of.

Jordan never turned 3-1 — because he didn’t have to. His Chicago Bulls resolved clashes with fewer games. If Karl Malone (third best scorer in history) couldn’t be champion in his career, it was because he clashed with Jordan.

Even Jordan’s “Space Jam” is far superior to Lebron’s. James may be king, but Jordan was the god of the NBA. But if Lebron wins another title with this Lakers, we’ll talk again.

spanish justice

Congratulations to the Spanish Justice, which apparently protects victims and acts quickly in cases of rape accusation. However, it is regrettable to see the same Spanish Justice acting with disdain in the countless and absurd cases of racism in football; and now also in basketball.