{"id":18343,"date":"2025-05-08T10:54:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T10:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/18343\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T10:54:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T10:54:10","slug":"stop-right-there-lebron-james-told-goat-debate-is-over-michael-jordans-ex-teammate-warns-its-too-late","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/18343\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Stop right there&#8217;&#8230; LeBron James told GOAT debate is &#8216;over&#8217;, Michael Jordan&#8217;s ex-teammate warns it&#8217;s too late"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 season ended in disappointment as they were eliminated 1-4 by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs, despite high expectations.<\/p>\n<p>Even with superstar teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/luka-doncic\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Luka Doncic<\/a> alongside him, <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/lebron-james\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">LeBron James<\/a> once again fell short of reaching the NBA Finals, reigniting the debate about his standing in basketball history.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018What you are doing in 20 years, MJ did in 13\u2018<\/p>\n<p>Former Chicago Bulls player and <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/michael-jordan\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Jordan<\/a> teammate Stacey King didn\u2019t mince words when addressing LeBron\u2019s place in the GOAT conversation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLeBron James will go down as one of the best players who ever played. But let\u2019s stop the GOAT debate,\u201d King declared on his podcast, pointing to the fact that after 22 seasons, LeBron still hasn\u2019t matched Jordan\u2019s six championships.<\/p>\n<p>King also highlighted statistical areas where LeBron trails other legends, noting he remains behind <a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/kareem-abdul-jabbar\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kareem Abdul-Jabbar<\/a> in points per game and Wilt Chamberlain in rebounds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat you are doing in 20 years, MJ did in 13. Let\u2019s stop right there. You are not the GOAT, you are not going to bypass Kobe, you are not going to bypass Kareem and Wilt Chamberlain, the GOAT conversation is over,\u201d King stated emphatically.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"941\" height=\"627\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/GettyImages-2213588159-941x627.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by David Berding\/Getty Images\" class=\"wp-image-158027\" \/>Photo by David Berding\/Getty ImagesMount Rushmore vs. The GOAT: King draws the line<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nbaanalysis.net\/tag\/los-angeles-lakers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Lakers\u2019<\/a> early exit marks their third first-round elimination in the last four seasons, suggesting that LeBron\u2019s window to add to his four championships may be closing rapidly as he approaches his 41st birthday later this year.<\/p>\n<p>While dismissing LeBron\u2019s claim to the greatest of all time title, King did acknowledge his legendary status, adding: \u201cHe\u2019s a great player, he\u2019ll be on Mount Rushmore of the greatest NBA players, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As LeBron\u2019s remarkable career continues into its twilight years, this latest playoff disappointment may further cement Jordan\u2019s position in the eyes of many fans and analysts as basketball\u2019s undisputed greatest player of all time.\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 season ended in disappointment as they were eliminated 1-4 by the Minnesota Timberwolves in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,185,150,935,4106],"class_list":{"0":"post-18343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-lebron-james","10":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","11":"tag-michael-jordan","12":"tag-nba-legends"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114471847203655654","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}