When the NBA GOAT debate is brought up in regard to Michael Jordan and LeBron James, it’s rare that the person making the choice has faced off against both players when they were near their career peak. Allen Iverson was a rookie when he first opposed Jordan in 1996. Years later, he squared off against a young James several times throughout the 2000s.
Iverson grew up idolizing Jordan, but when Marc J. Spears of Andscape asked Iverson to choose between the two superstars, he truly seemed to agonize.
“I hate it because I love both of them so much and both of them did so much for our game,” Iverson told Andscape. “LeBron, I think, to me is the best overall basketball player that we’ll ever see. If you look in the dictionary and look up basketball player, there’ll be a picture of LeBron.
“But for me it’s so different because Mike was everything to me,” Iverson continued. “He gave me the vision. He made me want to play basketball. He’s my everything. I wanted to actually be like him, like the commercial, ‘Be like Mike,’ I really wanted to be him. I’m still starstruck every time I see him. I’m still nervous every time. Because he’s Mike to me. He’s my guy. So there’ll never be no one at the top of my list besides Mike. But LeBron is just everything that you want in a basketball player. He’s a total package. He’s God’s gift to the basketball world.”
It doesn’t sound as if anything or anyone could dethrone Jordan as the GOAT in Iverson’s mind. But The Answer christening James as “God’s gift to basketball” is as much praise as any player can hope to get.
