Former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas added some spice to the ongoing GOAT debate between LeBron James and Michael Jordan. He added two names to the discussion: Grammy-Award-winning rapper Drake and the widely considered greatest sprinter of all time, Usain Bolt.
In his interview on VladTV, Arenas discussed a number of topics, including the GOAT debate. “Agent Zero” gave an interesting take on the fans of Jordan—as well as Kobe Bryant—and “King James.”
“These people aren’t fans of Michael Jordan or fans of Kobe. They’re just anti- LeBron fans, which means your whole page is to talk [expletive] about him,” Arenas said about James’ haters. “A real Jordan fan does not give two [expletive] about LeBron James or Kobe. It’s all Michael Jordan,” he added.
Arenas further stated that he doesn’t think James is really hated by the NBA fans. “I can’t say LeBron is hated. You can’t be number one in votes to number one in jersey sales every year if you’re hated,” he explained.
“No Chill Gil” also compared LeBron’s situation to Drake’s, whom he thinks is just being disliked for the moment. “Nobody hates Drake. You just dislike him today right because it’s popular,” Arenas said.
Arenas then brought Usain Bolt into the discussion, when making his point about people not caring about “number two” in the GOAT debate.
“Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the world. I don’t see Usain Bolt fans talking about whoever the [expletive] is number two. They don’t care. Who’s number two?,” Arenas mused. “It don’t matter. They’re not being mentioned.”
Arenas never got to play against “His Airness” in his prime, but he had the chance to play two games against Wizards MJ in 2003 when he was still with the Golden State Warriors; it also happened to be Jordan’s final season as an active player.
Arenas would then leave the Warriors to join the Wizards in the 2003–04 season, prompting the NBA salary cap rule named the “Gilbert Arenas Rule” after him. This season also happens to be LeBron James’ rookie year.
‘His Airness’ talks about GOAT debate with LeBron James
Even Michael Jordan himself—one of the subjects of the NBA’s GOAT debate alongside LeBron James—has his own take on the topic.
“His Airness” was asked about his take on the discussion in a 2017 interview with Cigar Aficionado. He said that the debate is unfair to the NBA greats before and after him.
“I never played against Wilt Chamberlain. I never played against Jerry West. To now say that one’s greater than the other is being a little bit unfair,” MJ said in the interview. “I won six championships, Bill Russell won 11. Does that make Bill Russell better than me or make me better than him? No, because we played in different eras.”
Many still consider MJ the GOAT, but James continues to make a case for himself. LeBron James had already taken the top spot among the NBA’s all-time scoring leaders, while MJ sat in fifth place overall.
The debate will probably continue on, but regardless, MJ’s influence in pop culture will most likely eclipse his basketball career (remember the crying meme?). There will probably never be a definitive answer to the GOAT question, even if you ask the true fans of Michael Jordan and LeBron James.
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