When you talk about the GOATs of the sports world, a few names always come to mind. Well, if you’re a basketball fan, which of course you are, otherwise why would you even be here? LeBron James is always on top of most people’s list. However, some football fanatics would argue that Tom Brady has had a bigger impact than King James and might even be a greater athlete. But ESPN certainly doesn’t seem to think so! This sparked a heated debate on their show First Take, even leading to Bronny James suffering the brunt of the discussion.

With the Paris Olympics right around the corner, ESPN recently released a list of Top 100 pro athletes in the world since 2000, in their opinion. What caught everyone’s attention was LeBron James, who was ranked number 4 on the list, taking a spot above Tom Brady who sat comfortably at the 5 spot. Surely enough, it led to a difference in opinion among the First Take panel full of NFL experts. However, former Pittsburgh Steelers star Ryan Clark agreed with ESPN’s ranking as he mentioned the one thing LeBron has achieved that TB12 couldn’t. “What’s Tom Brady’s son name? Do y’all know? I don’t know Tom Brady’s son. Do you think Tom Brady was good enough to get his son drafted?”

Yes, while Brady has more championships and MVP trophies in his cabinet, it is LeBron’s dominance even at age 39 that the Lakers potentially had no option but to draft Bronny this summer to keep Daddy James around. “40YO LeBron James in December is so good at basketball still, changes the dynamic of an organization still, that they drafted his son.” Clark remarked. Apart from the Bronny argument, the former NFL star also mentioned LeBron’s countless achievements, including his historic 3-1 comeback against the Warriors to lead the Cavs to their first title. “Guess what? I’m a Jordan-Kobe guy, and even I know that LeBron James belongs above Tom Brady.” He added.

Former NFL GM doesn’t agree with Ryan Clark and ESPN

While Clark had no problem with LeBron being ranked over Brady, former New York Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum had a different stance, “7 different titles in 23 years, to me, I’d have put Tom Brady even higher.” Unlike LeBron, who Tannenbaum believes required a compatible supporting cast on several occasions to win a championship, Brady climbed the mountaintop six times while staying with the New England Patriots for twenty years.

And his loyalty to a single franchise and the way he evolved his game to win during that time is what makes Mike think that Brady deserves to be higher on ESPN’s list. “The definition of greatness is making those around you better and the fact that he was able to elevate his play and play with a lot of different people for different phases of his career to me is the definition of greatness.” Mike claimed.

Apart from the two legends, the athletes who cracked ESPN’s Top 5 are Michael Phelps, Serena Williams, and Lionel Messi, in that order. With how much all of them have accomplished in their respective field, the argument about who should be ranked on top will always be up for debate. Who do you think belongs in the Top 5 list?