John Starks has weighed in on the never-ending “LeBron vs. MJ” debate and taken the side of Michael Jordan.
Starks recently said that LeBron has damaged his legacy by “switching NBA teams so much,” pointing out that Jordan didn’t move around during his career. He believes that ultimately the difference between the two will be that Jordan didn’t need to chase players to join him.
“LeBron is hurting his legacy by switching NBA teams so much that it will affect his standing when it comes to LeBron vs. Jordan debates. Mike didn’t move around. He wanted to play against the best. He felt like he didn’t need to go chase players to join his team to beat the best because he felt like he was the best, and I think that’s the difference.”
As you might expect, the responses to Starks’ comments were about as divisive as the debate on Lebron vs. MJ itself:
You talking about Lebron like he’s harden lol. Dude has played out every contract he’s signed and has given every organization multiple high quality years. Bron is getting his jersey retired by all 3 organizations as well.Shit as rich Paul said, Lebron went to LA for a challenge https://t.co/uXcdHr2TFW
— Rich 🐐 (@pbp_Rich) September 6, 2023
At that time Jordan couldn’t move. He would be moving to an inferior team and taking a pay cut. And MJ still tried to strong arm the owner and GM multiple times, even threatening that he would leave eventually.
MJ played on the best team, had the best all around player in the… https://t.co/7hPDSqlnh1
— Letting Go (@ProvideContext) September 6, 2023
Former NBA players who supposedly understand the intricacies/factors of team building not acknowledging the CLEARLY different front office situations that LeBron and MJ had early in their career is pretty concerning.
No matter who you favor, you have to at least acknowledge that https://t.co/dWVsmOdTeS
— Josh Medi (@JoshMedeiros20) September 6, 2023
Respectfully MJ>Lebron
— Celtics (@_CelticsNation_) September 6, 2023
Well, one guy was blessed with an incredible front office that adequately drafted all-star level talent around Mike and made adequate signings/trades when needed to ensure Mike had a competitive roster around him (especially like, post ‘88/‘89).
LeBron didn’t have that same… https://t.co/sgeQsik3xT
— 𝗕𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘🚨 (@bmoretalks_ball) September 6, 2023
The LeBron vs. MJ debate will continue until LeBron wraps up his NBA career and probably for many years after.
What do you think about John Starks’ comments? Did they sway you in any way?