David Falk, a long time agent to NBA superstars like Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan, shared his expertise with those at Sports Business Journal’s 4se conference on Tuesday and was asked to settle the age-old debate of MJ or LeBron James as the sport’s greatest of all time. Predictably, he sided with Jordan. More surprisingly, he laid out a scenario where his former client could have put together a career that featured 15 NBA titles.
Falk said that either Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Kobe Bryant is second on his personal rankings while conceding that James is “probably” in his top 10.
“I really like LeBron,” [Falk] said. “But I think if Jordan had cherry-picked what teams he wanted to be on and two other superstars, he would’ve won 15 championships.”
That’s quite a claim. But let’s entertain it.
Jordan played 15 seasons in the NBA so the implication is that he very simply would have found himself in the right situation coming out of North Carolina so he could have skipped all those pesky playoff setbacks before hoisting his first trophy after the 1990–91 season. All of those years ended in either a Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers or Detroit Pistons triumph, meaning that, directly from college, Jordan would have needed to have the power and agency to either build his own superteam better than this triumvirate or to hop aboard one, two, or all three of them. Then the Bulls years never happen or he brings another star to join him and Scottie Pippen. Who knows?
Now, consider the two years spent away from the NBA pursuing baseball. Does that happen on the same timeline? Does it happen at all if he’s winning all available championships for a decade straight? Does it happen sooner because he’s accomplished so much? If so, is he able to return in exactly the right spot to serve as veteran role player on a contender, and not the Washington Wizards?
Falk’s claim is great because Jordan’s talent on the court leaves no doubt that he’d have been capable of doing something like this, even though on its face it seems impossible. The challenge, though, is sort of the same one that James has navigated post-The Decision: cherry-picking the exact time and place to make a change. We’ve seen him succeed and fail in that arena while being given the exact type of power imagined here. It’s impossible to know whether Jordan would be better at this, worse, or exactly the same.
