What Michael Jordan Milestones Has LeBron James Not Crossed? Delving Into Rockets Star’s In-Season Tournament Assertion

It’s safe to say that nobody else will come as close to Michael Jordan as LeBron James has. At least, not for a while. The King has stood the test of time and is still one of the best players in the NBA in his 20th season. Yet, some people find it hard to place LeBron above Jordan. This is mostly because of some important categories in which MJ still holds the upper hand.

But one place where James can have his advantage over Jordan is the newly implemented in-season tournament. Although people were confused about it at first, fans and players now seems fully invested. According to Chandler Parsons, winning this tournament is something that LeBron can hold over Jordan in the GOAT debate.

The in-season tournament can be exclusively LeBron’s

The Los Angeles Lakers have dominated their in-season tournament group so far. They won all four of their matches and were one of the first teams to qualify for the quarterfinals of the first in-season tournament.

The head coach of the Lakers, Darvin Ham, wanted to restrict LeBron James’ minutes early in the season. But that does not seem to be the case any longer. The 38-year-old is currently averaging 33.8 minutes per game.

In LeBron’s last game against the Utah Jazz, he crossed the 39,000 mark in scoring. Former Houston Rockets forward Chandler Parsons was recently asked during the Run It Back show if LeBron James is giving more focus to the in-season tournament, as winning would be something that he can always hold over Michael Jordan in the GOAT argument.

Chandler Parsons answered, “Sure, if we are looking at the GOAT argument, yeah this is just more ammo for him.“

Even with LeBron becoming the greatest scorer ever, people are still not fully convinced that he has overcome MJ. But winning the in-season tournament would certainly be an award that would remain exclusive to the King.

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This is especially useful considering the fact that he won’t be able to catch up to His Airness in some other important accolades.

LeBron is falling short of Michael Jordan in accolades

Although James has scored the most points in NBA history, he is nowhere near Jordan in terms of leading the NBA in scoring. LeBron has one scoring title, while Jordan won it 10 times during his career.

Another crucial area where LeBron James falls short of Jordan is the Defensive Player of the Year award. He has never won the award. LeBron also falls short of Jordan in all-defensive team selections as well. But the most important thing that separates LeBron from Jordan is the number of NBA championships. LeBron James needs two more to catch up to Michael Jordan.

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It is still not certain how the debate will end. LeBron will be 39 years old in a month, yet he is still one of the best players in the league. Only time will tell how and when LeBron’s career will end.  And only then will we be able to have a solid answer about the greatest player ever.