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LeBron James or Michael Jordan? If you’re a sports fan, you’ve heard the question a million times. Both are considered the greatest NBA player of all-time by the overwhelming majority of basketball fans. But which of the two is better, or had the better career, is a little less straightforward. But former NBA center Brendan Haywood, who played in the league from 2001-2015 and won a championship in 2011 with the Dallas Mavericks, had the pleasure of playing with both legendary players.
Haywood began his career with the Washington Wizards alongside Michael Jordan in the final years of his career. He then ended his career alongside James and Kyrie Irving with the Cleveland Cavaliers. So, which of the two is better and what separates them? He explained just that on the Maggie & Perloff show on Thursday.
The biggest difference between MICHAEL JORDAN and LEBRON JAMES as teammates??
Brendan Haywood played alongside them both pic.twitter.com/AGsO29ytKW
— Maggie Gray (@MaggieGray) April 3, 2025
“They’re both incredible. But they go about being incredible in different ways,” Haywood stated. “Michael Jordan is a stone-cold, cutthroat killer and if you’re not helping him win, he has absolutely no time for you. That’s just how he is. LeBron James is a killer in his own right, but he does it differently. He’s not as cutthroat. He’ll try to talk to you, he’ll try to play the mind games with you, empower a certain guy. So they both go about their business. They just go about it differently.”
So, who’s the GOAT? That’s what we all want to know. Well Haywood, who went to the University of North Carolina, as Jordan did, set the record straight in an interview earlier this year.
“Come on, stop playin’,” Haywood said when asked to weigh in on the Jordan-James debate. “… Come on now. If anybody in the Carolina family doesn’t say that M.J. is No. 1, they are excommunicado. Come on now. Come on now. M.J.’s the greatest ever.”
Okay, so Haywood may have a bit of bias. But he still made a pick. And he’s rocking with Jordan.