There is no such thing as a perfect basketball player, and I don’t believe there is only one greatest player either. –Michael Jordan

This week Lebron James earned his 5th straight NBA finals appearance, sweeping the eastern conference’s top seeded Atlanta Hawks. That would mean this is also his 5th straight eastern conference championship. He will face off against current MVP Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors for the NBA finals starting the first week of June. This article, however, is not about the upcoming finals, it is about the questions that always come up once Lebron does sometimes great. Question number 1, is Lebron James better than Michael Jordan? Question number 2, is Lebron James better than Kobe Bryant? This article will focus on Lebron v. Kobe.

I’m going to just come out and say it; Lebron is better than Kobe. He just is. Numbers prove it. Current success proves it. Kobe may be considered the better scorer but Lebron averages more points per game for his career (with a better shooting percentage, almost 50%, with Kobe shooting 45%) and Lebron averages more assists, rebounds, blocks and steals. Lebron also has a better shooting percentage in clutch game-winning situations, a stat many feel Kobe excels in. In fact the only career percentage stat Kobe bests Lebron in is free throw percentage. Lebron has 4 MVP awards, Kobe has one. The biggest stat Kobe fans pull out is the fact that Lebron is 2-3 in the NBA finals and Kobe is 5-2. Kobe fans always bring up the rings but that backfires because the first 3 rings came with Shaq as the teams leader. In fact, Shaq won all three finals MVP awards during that time. Kobe, has two finals mvp awards, but those are from the teams that had Pau Gasol instead of Shaq. Lebron won the finals MVP every time he got a ring. Also, consider the fact that both came out of high school and went straight to the NBA but Lebron was rookie of the year his first year averaging almost 21 points a game (20.9), starting every game, while Kobe averaged 7.6 his first year and didn’t average over 20 points until his fourth season, although averaging 19.9 his third year, the year he became the starter. In Lebron’s third year, he averaged over 30 points a game. Physically, Lebron is faster and stronger than Kobe. Along with having arguably the most dominant center in the history of basketball, Kobe also had arguably the best coach in NBA history. Lebron never had either, his best teammate being a declining but still very good D Wade, although Bosh was a great teammate as well.

When you compare the players to other players in their time, there is also more debate. Some would argue that Kobe was in competition with Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady for the top spot in their position (although TMac played both SG and SF). Lebron would have Durant and Melo for that, but Lebron was always considered slightly better at the least. Many times, people said Allen Iverson was better than Kobe, especially in the beginning of their careers, being drafted in the same draft. Some even said the same for TMac. Iverson, like Lebron, took a mediocre team to the NBA finals off sheer skill alone. It did not bode well for them, but they still managed the feat. Kobe has never taken a team to the finals as the lone star, he even missed the playoffs one year post Shaq. Even Jordan couldn’t get to the NBA finals until Scottie Pippen became a star and Phil Jackson became the coach.

To me it is clear that Lebron is, and will go down in history as, a better player than Kobe Bryant. I don’t think rings matter as much as people like to emphasize because rings are a team accomplishment, mvps’ are for individuals. Kobe is a NBA legend, no doubt about it, but I think his selfishness and arrogance prohibited him from having an even better career (Phil Jackson once called him uncoachable). It always makes me wonder how many more rings the Shaq, Kobe and Phil combo could have gotten.

Is Lebron better than Jordan? Now that’s even more interesting.