You’ve asked us and we’ve delivered. On this page you’ll find the most comprehensive head to head list of metrics comparing Michael Jordan to Lebron James. We looked at 5 specific areas to compare these 2 NBA Greats:
- Winning – History is written by the winners. On the final analysis, who was the greatest winner?
- Achievements – Legacies are built around singular achievement and accolades – how do these players stack up in terms of lifetime achievements and awards like MVPs, All-NBA Selections, and more.
- Dominance – GOAT discussions often end up as an argument between dominance and longevity. Dominance is how you measured up against your peers during the era your played.
- Efficiency – Outside of longetivity, was the player actually efficient in the games they played. These are per game stats that showed these players made the most impact during the minutes they played.
- Longevity – This is the resume portion of the comparison. In terms of pure absolute numbers, how do these players stack up all-time?
| Metric | Category | Jordan | Lebron | Edge |
| Championships | Winning | 6 | 4 | Jordan |
| Finals Appearances | Winning | 6 | 10 | Lebron |
| Playoff Series Winning % as the favorite | Winning | 96.6% (28-1) | 89.7% (35-4) | Jordan |
| Playoff Series Winning % as the underdog | Winning | 2-6 (33.3%) | 36.4% (4-7) | Lebron |
| Win Shares Per 48 (All-time Rank) | Winning | .2505 (1) | .2273 (8) | Lebron |
| MVPs | Achievements | 5 | 4 | Jordan |
| Finals MVPs | Achievements | 6 | 4 | Jordan |
| All-NBA Selections | Achievements | 11 | 18 | Lebron |
| All-Defense | Achievements | 9 | 6 | Jordan |
| DPOYs | Achievements | 1 | 0 | Jordan |
| Rookie of the Year | Achievements | 1 | 1 | Tie |
| All-star Selections | Achievements | 14 | 19 | Lebron |
| Scoring Titles | Dominance | 10 | 1 | Jordan |
| Assist Titles | Dominance | 0 | 1 | Lebron |
| Steals Titles | Dominance | 3 | 0 | Jordan |
| BPM Titles | Dominance | 9 | 7 | Jordan |
| RAPTOR Titles | Dominance | 7 | 2 | Jordan |
| PER Titles | Dominance | 7 | 6 | Jordan |
| WS/48 Titiles | Dominance | 8 | 5 | Jordan |
| WS Titles | Dominance | 9 | 5 | Jordan |
| VORP Titles | Dominance | 9 | 9 | Tie |
| Regular Season PPG (All-time Rank) | Efficiency | 30.1 (1) | 27.2 (5) | Jordan |
| Regular Season RPG (All-time Rank) | Efficiency | 6.2 (309) | 7.5 (183) | Lebron |
| Regular Season APG (All-time Rank) | Efficiency | 5.3 (104) | 7.3 (27) | Lebron |
| Regular Season SPG (All-time Rank) | Efficiency | 2.3 (4) | 1.5 (76) | Jordan |
| Regular Season BPG (All-time Rank) | Efficiency | 0.8 (232) | 0.8 (261) | Jordan |
| Regular Season TS% | Efficiency | 56.9% (119) | 58.8% (53) | Lebron |
| Regular Season PER | Efficiency | 27.9 (1) | 27.3 (3) | Jordan |
| Playoff PPG (All-time Rank) | Efficiency | 33.4 (1) | 28.7 (6) | Jordan |
| Playoff RPG (All-time Rank) | Efficiency | 6.4 (266) | 9.0 (105) | Lebron |
| Playoff APG (All-time Rank) | Efficiency | 5.7 (68) | 7.2 (24) | Lebron |
| Playoff SPG (All-time Rank) | Efficiency | 2.1 (12) | 1.7 (40) | Jordan |
| Playoff BPG (All-time Rank) | Efficiency | 0.9 (195) | 0.6 (171) | Lebron |
| Playoff TS% | Efficiency | .568 (73) | .583 (39) | Lebron |
| Playoff PER | Efficiency | 28.6 (1) | 28.2 (3) | Jordan |
| Regular Season Points (All-time Rank) | Longevitiy | 32292 (5) | 38352 (1) | Lebron |
| Regular Season Rebounds (All-time Rank) | Longevitiy | 6672 (135) | 10576 (32) | Lebron |
| Regular Season Assists (All-time Rank) | Longevitiy | 5633 (5) | 10351 (4) | Lebron |
| Regular Season Steals (All-time Rank) | Longevitiy | 2514 (3) | 2176 (9) | Jordan |
| Regular Season Blocks (All-time Rank) | Longevitiy | 893 (123) | 1065 (91) | Lebron |
| Playoff Points (All-time Rank) | Longevitiy | 5987 (2) | 7631 (1) | Lebron |
| Playoff Rebounds (All-time Rank) | Longevitiy | 1152 (45) | 2391 (6) | Lebron |
| Playoff Assists (All-time Rank) | Longevitiy | 1022 (12) | 1919 (2) | Lebron |
| Playoff Steals (All-time Rank) | Longevitiy | 376 (3) | 454 (1) | Lebron |
| Playoff Blocks (All-time Rank) | Longevitiy | 158 (37) | 252 (11) | Lebron |
| Win Shares (All-time Rank) | Longevity | 214.02 (5) | 254.27 (2) | Lebron |
| VORP (All-time Rank) | Longevity | 116.05 (2) | 145.93 (1) | Lebron |
In evaluating these 5 categories, as expected, Jordan clearly wins the Dominance category, whereas Lebron’s Longevity is unprecedented in sports. Efficiency is a mixed bag, which each player leading in 7 categories. Jordan may get the edge as he leads in both Regular Season and Playoff PER. Winning and Achievements is where Jordan creates some distance between the two players: with a clear edge in the all-important Championships, MVP, and Finals MVPs categories.
Who has your vote for the better player? Please let us know!
NBA Realist 
Brown Mamba