Who is the greatest baller of them all?
The fiery debate that’s divided basketball fans for years just got doused with more fuel courtesy of a new survey conducted by Business Insider…and Michael Jordan won by a landslide.
Of 1,082 respondents polled via SurveyMonkey, 747 offered to name an NBA player as the greatest of all time. A whopping 66 percent picked His Airness.
LeBron James, who recently proclaimed that his part in leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to their first-ever NBA title earned him the title, came in a very distant second with just 10.4 percent of the GOAT picks.
What @kingjames considers being the GOAT 🐐
New episode of More Than An Athlete out on @espn+. pic.twitter.com/7XSQ2GpOVo— UNINTERRUPTED (@uninterrupted) December 30, 2018
Larry Bird rounded out the top three, followed by other NBA legends like Wilt Chamberlain, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and more.
Check out the full breakdown below:
- Michael Jordan – 66%
- LeBron James – 10.4%
- Larry Bird – 4.0%
- Wilt Chamberlain – 3.5%
- Shaquille O’Neal – 2.7%
- Kobe Bryant – 2.3%
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – 2.1%
- Stephen Curry – 2.0%
- Bill Russell – 0.9%
- Magic Johnson – 0.9%
- Other – 5.1%
James’ lack of votes may surprise some, as he recently surpassed Jordan to take fourth place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
The results may have something to do with voters’ ages.
Per BI:
..of the respondents who picked Jordan, 74% were between the ages of 30 and 44, and 69% were between 45 and 60.
Comparatively, James polled best in the 18 to 29 age group, receiving 20% of his votes from respondents in that age category. Just 6% of his votes came from people ages 45 to 60 and 60-plus.
The data would suggest that younger, more-engaged NBA fans lean toward James, as he’s still playing. Older generations who watched Jordan play and tune in less today lean toward Jordan.
What do you think?