The GOAT debate is not a conversation that includes many names. The circle is so small that the back-and-forth includes only two names: Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Often these conversations are completely subjective as there isn’t a real way to compare the two considering they played in two different eras. However, that doesn’t stop the speculation.

Fans compare the two by the only empirical evidence available their stats and Awards. Even that may actually be futile, considering ‘His Airness’ was a shooting guard and the Akron Hammer is a small forward. Though having said that, a clip of Bron recently resurfaced on X that mentions one specific snub that could even be the playing field between him and MJ.

“Defensive Player of the Year…I mean that’s the only award I don’t have in my house. That kind of stings,” said LBJ.

Among every other accolade DPOY trophy, which Jordan won in 1988, sticks out like a sore thumb on LeBron’s resume as he points out. “It’s like what Jay(Jay Z) said about B(Beyonce ) How could she have the most Grammys? But never won Album of the Year. So, the year I finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year award, the guy that won Defensive Player didn’t even make it to first-team All-Defence,” said James.

Visibly frustrated by the snub, LBJ does make some sense here. In the 2008-09 season, the year Bron won his first MVP award he finished second in the DPOY race losing to Dwight Howard. However, the question of defensive ability between MJ and LeBron remains.

Comparing the Defensive qualities of Micheal Jordan and LeBron James

While both Jordan and James share a near-identical career defensive rating of 102.7(MJ) and 104.7(LBJ), finer stats give a clearer picture. For his career, Michael averaged 2.3 steals a game, whereas LeBron averaged half of that at 1.5 steals. In rebounds, however, LeBron averages 7.2 rebounds a game, one board higher than MJ who averaged 6.2 TRB. In terms of blocks both are very close. Air Jordan averaged 0.8 blocks a game and LBJ, 0.7.

In his career, MJ has 9 NBA All-Defensive First Team selections, whereas Bron has 5. Not to mention Michael actually won the DPOY in 1988, and also being a steals leader for three years to LeBron’s zero. So, that DPOY trophy could have helped James’ case in the debate significantly because as of now Jordan has the clear edge on him defensively speaking as far as statistics and accolades are concerned.

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