The NBA’s “Greatest of All Time” is a neverending debate however two names manage is pop up in every conversation, Lebron James and Michael Jordan. It is extremely difficult to compare two players from different eras who played different positions. But that doesn’t stop analysts like Nick Wright form sparking this conversation up every chance they get.
NBA analyst Nick Wright claims that Lebron James will tie Michael Jordan in rings when the Los Angeles Lakers win the Championship this year. For years Nick argued that championships don’t matter when deciding a player’s capabilities. While it is true that Michael Jordan didn’t have to face super teams like the Golden State Warriors, which he brings up frequently, Nick cooked up special math to equate Lebron James’s 4 rings to Michael Jordan’s 6 six rings.
Nick Wright says LeBron James will have 6 rings on his resume if he wins the title this year
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— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) July 14, 2020
“We all know Lebron officially/unofficially got credit for two rings when he came back 3-1 down and beat 73 win team and sent Draymond crying to Kevin Durant. So right now he is at four. Before the stoppage happened the Lakers were playing the best basketball and they were healthy. The stoppage happens they get thrown off course Giannis is able to get healthy and other things that make it harder. Then they lose Bradley now they’ve lost Rondo. When they win the title this year it counts as another two which means Lebron and Jordan will both have 6 rings. 2 for the 73 win warriors, 2 for this year given all the injuries 6 rings to 6 rings I just want everyone to under stand”
By this logic, losing the 2011 championship to the underdogs Dallas Mavericks must have been equivalent to losing two for Lebron James. Nick Wright never tries to hide his bias but this is a new low even for him. Lebron James achieved unparalleled greatness coming back 3-1 down against the warriors. However, is the 2020 Championship as arduous as being projected by some NBA players?
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Lebron James’s Los Angeles Lakers are not the only team at a disadvantage
The coronavirus and the season suspension posed several difficulties but it certainly didn’t make the 2020 championship the toughest in NBA history. The appropriate description for this would be ‘the most unfair’ championship in NBA history. Practise facilities for 5 teams are closed down with 14 days left of the restart, two players in the bubble have tested positive for coronavirus which puts the plan in jeopardy. Home court advantage is stripped away.
International players from top-seeded teams will barely get a chance to practice with their team. In case, during playoffs a player like James Harden or Giannis Antetokounmpo tests positive, the entire series might have to be called off giving the opponent an unfair advantage to advance in the playoffs.
Nick Wright believes Giannis got healthy in the hiatus but so is the case for Anthony Davis who has proved to be quite injury prone in the past. While it’s true that losing Avery Bradley and Rajon Rhodo is particularly detrimental to the Los Angeles Lakers, other teams have faced similar issues. Clippers reported that two players from their team have tested positive and may not join them in Orlando. Russell Westbrook recently tested positive and his chances of joining the Houston Rockets before playoffs are thin.
Every single team is at a disadvantage in the prevailing situation and the asterisk beside 2020 champion is needed although for different reasons.
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