National Basketball Association

Was LeBron James' path to greatness tougher than Michael Jordan's?

Published Feb. 18, 2022 7:23 p.m. ET

The Los Angeles Lakers aren't having the season they expected to, but that doesn't change the fact that LeBron James is on the short list of the greatest players to ever play in the NBA.

In fact, "The Athletic" recently completed its ranking of the 75 greatest players in NBA history, and James placed second on the list behind Michael Jordan.

James' agent, Rich Paul, was interviewed as part of the story and stated that he believes James' road to basketball immortality was in some ways more difficult than Jordan's.

"The road for LeBron was just as hard, if not harder than the road was for Michael," Paul told "The Athletic." " … And I think the biggest reason is, everyone wants you to do something the way somebody else did it previously.

"There were more people that smiled and hoped LeBron failed than there ever was rooting for him to succeed in the beginning."

While there will always be those rooting for the downfall of high-profile athletes on the field or court, Skip Bayless believes James invited the comparisons to Jordan from an early age, and said as much on Friday's "Undisputed."

But while James might have embraced the comparisons to Jordan early on, he has not been given the same grace when it comes to wins and losses that Jordan has, according to Shannon Sharpe.

"Michael Jordan is the only guy in sports history that gets lauded in a losing performance. Only Jordan has a statue built on a 63-point losing performance. LeBron's had great performances in which he lost and we kill him."

LeBron's path to greatness was just as hard, if not harder, than Michael Jordan's — Shannon Sharpe I UNDISPUTED

LeBron James' agent Rich Paul recently said "the road for LeBron was just as hard, if not harder than the road was for Michael." Shannon Sharpe explains why he agrees with Paul.

James has been to the NBA Finals 10 times, winning four rings and losing six times. Jordan was a perfect 6-0 in the Finals.

When analyzing both of their NBA Finals opponents, Jordan and James have both played against three former MVP winners in the championship series.

Jordan faced Magic Johnson (1991), Charles Barkley (1993) and Karl Malone (1997-98) in the NBA Finals, while James has battled against Tim Duncan (2007, 2013-14), as well as Stephen Curry (2015-2018) and Kevin Durant (2012, 2017-18).

Jordan is seen as being responsible for preventing legendary figures such as Barkley, Malone and John Stockton from winning championships, while James has been criticized for allowing other superstars to collect hardware during his era.

The GOAT debate will continue to rage on between these two players, but with Paul's comments, it seems a new wrinkle has been thrown into the debate.