For years, Michael Jordan held the GOAT conversation almost by default. New research compiling player opinions from the last four years shows that grip has loosened.
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According to a HoopsHype breakdown of 112 active or former NBA players who have made their GOAT pick public since 2022, LeBron James now leads Jordan overall. The margin at the top is close, but the split beneath it isn’t.
James got 49 of the 112 votes, while Jordan finished with 46. The rest of the 17 votes were spread across other NBA legends. Also, as per HoopsHype, these opinions came before James became the NBA all-time leading scorer, so a few players may have changed their minds since then. And, active players and retired players seem to be answering the question in almost opposite directions.
Active Players Have Shifted Toward LeBron
The 57 active players who weighed in split hard toward James — 34 votes to Jordan’s 17, or 59.6 percent against 29.8.Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant each drew 3.5 percent of the vote, and Nikola Jokic and Paul George got one apiece.
One anonymous player explained his choice this way: “I get 20 years of greatness, and I get somebody who plays one through five.”
The retired side of the poll tells a different story. Flip to the 55 retired players, and it’s Jordan’s turn to dominate. He took 29 of those votes to James’ 15, a 52.7-to-27.3 split. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kobe Bryant each got a few, Curry picked up two, and Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson, and Bill Russell rounded things out with one vote apiece.
The generational divide is difficult to ignore. Players who are born in the 1960s and 1970s mostly are on Jordan’s side, and it’s easy to understand why. They either saw him playing or watched him in this peak. And among those born in the 70’s Jordan got nine votes compared to four for James.
Now when you bring the youngest group into the equation it seems to tell an opposite story. As per HoopsHype, of the 36 players born in the 2000s who have publicly named their GOAT, 22 chose James and 10 picked Jordan. James entered the league in 2003.
Spurs guard Devonte Graham captured that generational divide when describing how his own answer changed after being traded away from Jordan’s franchise. “Once I got traded, it became LeBron,” he told HoopsHype.
James himself hasn’t been shy about where he stands either, telling TMZ during a backyard session with his son that he considers himself the “G.O.A.T.”
Even NBA commissioner Adam Silver has acknowledged he isn’t ready for an era without the King. “I am not prepared to talk about the post-LeBron era.”
Retired legends like Jordan built their reputations in an era active players never watched live, while James has spent his entire career as the standard those same active players measure themselves against. That gap in firsthand experience is likely why the numbers split the way they do, and if the trend among current players holds, James’ case in the GOAT debate is only going to keep building.