Aside from a scene-stealing supporting role in Trainwreck, James was last seen trying (and almost succeeding) to rally the injury-depleted Cavs over the Warriors. The four-time MVP’s reputation really does speak for itself and Reggie Miller has been there to witness a lot of LeBron’s best moments over the years as a broadcaster for TNT, but despite all he’s seen, he’d still go with Larry Bird in primetime. Miller was on The Dan Patrick Show when he was given the hypothetical choice by Patrick. His rationale was solid; saying the league’s rules gives Larry Legend the upper hand.
While that might seem blasphemous for fans who have watched Lebron in his prime these past few years, the case for Bird is strong. When comparing their seasons when they were both 30-years-old, Bird comes out a clear winner.
Bird’s per game averages in the 1986-1987 season are crazy: 28.1 points, 7.6 assists, 9.2 rebounds, while shooting 52.5 percent from the field. By comparison in the 2014-2015 season James averaged 25.3 points, 7.4 assists, 6.0 rebounds, and shot 48.8 percent from the field. Bird wins in the Player Efficiency Rating (PER) as well, 26.4 to 25.9.
Granted those statistics don’t take into account the level of talent one was playing with, or the number of minutes played by the age of 30. James had played close to 40,000 minutes before this past season, which is a number Bird would hit later in his career.
Exceptions and excuses aside, these types of debates are what make the NBA both fun and sometimes annoying (think First Take). How many times have we all argued about who would you take in their prime, Kobe, LeBron or MJ? Or could Jordan beat Kobe one-on-one? Could LeBron beat Jordan in his prime? It consumes us. It’s the constant quest to answer questions that can never truly be solved. We never got to see Kobe and Jordan go at it while both were in their primes. Or LeBron and Jordan. We really didn’t get Kobe and LeBron matching up in their primes either.
Everyone, it seems, has weighed in with their opinions. Phil Jackson, who coached both Kobe and Jordan, has weighed in on this debate before. He picked His Airness, as did Miller, but in a much more annoying and attention grabbing way. Even Shaquille O’Neal, former teammates of both James and Bryant couldn’t refrain from throwing his two cents into the debates. He picked his frenemy, the Mamba over LeBron, citing Bryant’s “killer instinct” as the tipping point in his favor.
