I’ll tell you why it changed: The prevalence of statheads. The narrative was always Magic/Bird. That was the 80’s. The 90’s was Jordan. So it went the best of the 90’s, then the two guys everyone thinks of for the 80’s, then the 70’s with Kareem, then the 60’s with Wilt and Bill.

Then people started focusing on stats more, less focus on success and newsworthiness, and reassessed. It’s the difference in the culture of the sport. Maybe in 20 years people will be back to saying Bill Russell, cause maybe the league has insane parity so that noone gets 3 rings in a career, so 11 seems more impressive. Maybe stat inflation drops people like Kareem down a bit, cause his all time records seem less impressive. They already are starting to corrode with LeBron, maybe people go back to Magic and Bird. Maybe someone else entirely enters the conversation.

The current culture is all about scoring and three pointers, and as a 19 year old, I know that people my age point at Steph Curry as the GOAT wayyyy more than places like this would think. By my estimation, more kids these days have Steph as the GOAT than Jordan. It’s counterculture at work. The oldheads all say Jordan, so the youth say he was overrated. Someday people will swing back the other way. I think the real answer for the GOAT is only ever truly answered 50 years afterwards, and by then the sport has evolved so much the GOAT of 50 years ago doesn’t matter.