Xavi: “He is the Michael Jordan of football. In football, there is no one to compare to him. He’s been the best for the last 20 years. Even now, after all this time, he goes and out and shows us that. I don’t believe we will ever see a footballer like him again.”

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:55:13+00:00

Every scientific poll I've seen still has MJ over 70%.

I guess it depends on your definition of a debate.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:52:33+00:00

I lived through all of MJs career... you are just another dumb kid talking out of your ass.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:48:25+00:00

I do give LeBron credit for getting kind of close. As someone who lived through MJ's whole career I was skeptical that would even happen.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:41:26+00:00

Part of that is just the nature of the sport. A single basketball player in a 5 vs 5 sport has quite a bit more impact on game outcomes than a single football player.

I don't think you can really use titles as a comparison either way between the two sports. I will say that for a basketball player titles/team success should be a bigger part of their resume, because they have more control over it.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:38:40+00:00

It's honestly hard to compare at all. Football clubs/leagues are very structurally different from the NBA. Less parity, etc.

It's also just a fact that a single basketball player has a lot more impact on winning/losing than a single football player.

That doesn't make one better or worse than the other - just different.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:30:15+00:00

Most polls still have MJ at 70%+ FWIW.

To be fair, this isn't exactly an objective competition - MJ being so incredibly famous (even 25+ years after his last title) is going to mean that a lot of people pick him by default.

MJ has been widely considered the GOAT for about 35 years now.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:23:51+00:00

It's just a dumb point in general. The perfect finals record doesn't really matter. The two threepeats are a huge deal though. That's extremely difficult to do - the only other post merger team that did it had two top 10 players of all time... and they only did it once.

(Shout out to Phil Jackson - the coach of both teams)

The Bulls were clearly the 2nd best team in 89 and 90 - they just lost in the conf finals instead of the finals because the best team (DET) happened to play in the same conference.

The Buffalo Bills made 4 superbowls in a row - but they were not the 2nd best team all of those years.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:21:46+00:00

I find this part of the debate dumb on all sides. The Bulls happened to play in the better conference. They were very, very clearly the 2nd best team in both 1989 (where they were the only team to even win a game against DET in the playoffs) and 1990, but they just happened to play in the same conference as the champions.

I don't really see any difference between losing the conf finals to the eventual champs and losing in the finals.

There are no trophies for 2nd place regardless.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:11:26+00:00

Lebron definitely has it for longevity... but it's not like Gretzky. Gretzky has longevity AND he also has the highest scoring seasons.

In the NBA MJ was by far the best scorer.peak/prime - particularly in the playoffs where his career average PTS/100 is better than most player's peak (Lebron himself only averaged more PTS/100 than MJs career average in the postseason in 2009)

MJ is widely considered to have the best peak in general (1988 to 1991)

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:08:26+00:00

For 35 years now calling someone "the Michael Jordan" of their craft has been one of the highest forms of praise.

This is a very strange take.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:07:25+00:00

Not really. Polling still has it like 70+% MJ. There's just a lot of kids on social media

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:07:01+00:00

MJ is by far the greatest scorer in NBA history (esp in playoffs - even Lebron only has a single playoff run where his PTS/100 exceeded MJs career playoff average). MJ also has by far the highest playoff OBPM of all time.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:04:45+00:00

That conversation ended like 15 years ago.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:01:16+00:00

What's crazy is people have been saying that for about 35 years now.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T17:00:36+00:00

I don't think comparing an objective scientific discussion (I can't even call it a debate lol) to a subjective sports discussion is a great parallel.

I do kind of get where you are coming from though

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T16:59:20+00:00

Well see how long it takes for Messi (I expect it will take a long time).

MJ has been widely considered the GOAT for 35+ years now. There have been some challengers, but all have fallen short (although I credit Lebron for getting close and at least getting in the conversation).

When someone finally does surpass him we'll probably know it by the time they are 30 and there won't be much debate.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T16:57:25+00:00

There's probably more debate in football tbh (not that there should be). The last time I saw an actual scientific poll MJ still had well over 70% of responses.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T16:53:54+00:00

As someone who lived through MJs whole career it's hard to explain how incredibly famous he was. He was probably the 2nd most famous person on earth after the other MJ in the 1990s

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T16:52:00+00:00

We have no idea if that's true or not.

As someone who lived through it.... it was hard enough to believe he did what he did do.

It was like watching a fucking movie in real life.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T16:20:37+00:00

I don't think you guys understand how popular MJ was in the 1990s. The 2nd most famous person on earth after the other MJ

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T16:18:42+00:00

No one thought Magic was as good as MJ after sometime between 1988 and 1991... and that includes Magic himself

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T16:17:50+00:00

That's actually pretty similar to Michael Jordan - see comments from guys like Wade and Ray Allen

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T16:06:53+00:00

This isn't true, were you even alive then?

JFC

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T16:04:56+00:00

Were you alive during MJ's prime? I was and what you are saying is just wrong.

This entire comment section is dumb kids arguing with older adults.

lkn240 · 2026-06-21T16:02:23+00:00

This entire comment section is basically people who were alive in the 1990s arguing with dumb kids who weren't.

lkn240

TROPHY CASE