Los Angeles Lakers: Why Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the real basketball GOAT

1. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Trumps Michael Jordan in nearly every aspect

When discussing who the greatest of all-time is, fans often point to the statistics and accolades that Michael Jordan put together in his career. However, that same argument can also be ignored when the stats and accolades do not go in his favor.

We are not ignoring that side of the argument. Kareem-Abdul Jabbar dominates Michael Jordan statistically and with his accolades.

Abdul-Jabbar has the most points scored all-time (38387), Jordan is fourth (32292); he shot better than Jordan (55.9 percent to 49.7 percent) grabbed more boards (17440 to 6672) and even beats him in assists (5660 to 5633).

The case against these stats is Abdul-Jabbar’s longevity compared to Jordan’s. Abdul-Jabbar played 1560 games compared to Jordan’s 1072. And while the totals are close despite almost 500 games of difference, longevity should be a huge factor in the greatest of all-time discussion.

And while Jordan may have averaged better stats than Abdul-Jabbar on a game-by-game basis, Jabbar still trumps him in accolades.

They both have six rings, Abdul-Jabbar made 19 All-Star Teams compared to Jordan’s 14, six MVPs to Jordan’s five, 15 All-NBA teams to Jordan’s 11, 11 All-Defensive teams to Jordan’s nine. The only thing Jordan beats Abdul-Jabbar in Finals MVPs, steals champions and scoring champions.

I guarantee that Jordan would have surpassed Abdul-Jabbar if he played as many seasons. However, that is just a what if. We have to analyze what actually happened, not what could have happened.

Abdul-Jabbar was great and did so for longer than Jordan did. That is a forgotten factor in this discussion.