![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.basketballnetwork.net\/.image\/ar_1.91%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_xy_center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_1200%2Cx_2174%2Cy_1559\/MTk1MjIyMDIwNzY0NDc2NjE1\/usatsi_17735232.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe results of a new poll conducted anonymously among active NBA players show that Michael Jordan is still regarded as the greatest player in the sports history — no doubt a byproduct of his six championship wins with the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, as well as his five MVP awards and career scoring average north of 30 points per game. However, as Jordan’s playing career fades further from memory for a new generation of players and fans, a new contender for “GOAT” status is emerging.<\/p>\n
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LeBron James has polled just behind Jordan in The Athletic’s survey of more than 100 current players, and the margin to MJ is getting smaller and smaller as general recognition of James’ accomplishments grows — especially as the King’s pro career does not have very many years left in it.<\/p>\n
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The Athletic polled\u00a0133 NBA players<\/strong>\u00a0for a new, wide-ranging\u00a0feature, wherein\u00a046 percent of respondents identified Jordan as the Association’s GOATed player<\/strong>. But James has steadily gained on Jordan in this particular poll — and at\u00a042.1 percent<\/strong>, the gap between the King and\u00a0His Airness<\/strong>\u00a0could be reduced even further the next time that players are asked about their GOAT preference.<\/p>\n James last season surpassed\u00a0Kareem Abdul-Jabbar<\/strong>\u00a0as the\u00a0NBA’s all-time leading scorer and is the only player in league history to score at least 40,000 points in the regular season. He is a four-time NBA champion and continues to perform at a high level even in his age-39 season — his 21st campaign since entering the NBA with the\u00a0Cleveland Cavaliers<\/strong>\u00a0in 2003. He has been an elite player for so long, and done so much for the NBA, that it would not be a surprise at all to see James top this poll next time.<\/p>\n Of course, James would love nothing more than to add another championship to his collection and end all debate about his legacy, but his\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers<\/strong>\u00a0are facing an uphill battle in the\u00a0Western Conference playoffs<\/strong>. The\u00a0Lakers\u00a0<\/strong>are behind 1-0 to the\u00a0Denver Nuggets<\/strong>\u00a0in their best-of-seven first round series, with James expressing frustration with his teammates following Saturday’s 114-103 loss at\u00a0Ball Arena<\/strong>. However, seeing as James is the active leader in playoff scoring, a rally Monday night cannot be ruled out as\u00a0Los Angeles<\/strong>\u00a0seeks to send the series back to\u00a0southern California<\/strong>\u00a0knotted up at a game apiece.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The results of a new poll conducted anonymously among active NBA players show that Michael Jordan is still regarded as the greatest player in the sports history… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4975,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4974"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4976,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974\/revisions\/4976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbiz.thongtinluat.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"