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Michael Jordan Doesn’t Consider Himself As The GOAT, Bestows It To Someone Else

With his almost flawless resume and insane demeanor on the court, NBA fans couldn’t help but crown Michael Jordan as the Greatest Player of All-Time, a feat that LeBron James and other superstars would want to attain.

But Jordan doesn’t even like to be called the ‘GOAT’ for some reason, and would rather bestow it to Oscar Roberson. Retired player John Salley, who won a championship with Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, recalled a story of Jordan constantly denying being considered as the Greatest Player of All-Time.

“He (MJ) started getting more and more popular and I was like ‘dog, they say you’re the greatest player to ever play’. He goes ‘come on sal stop’. I said no, people are saying you’re the greatest player to ever play. Ever. Forget everybody else MJ, they saying you. They only watched you play for four years, you’re the greatest player ever. He was like ‘you know that’s how they do sh*t, you know they put things together. They want to sell sneakers, they want to sell the league’. He don’t believe he the greatest player to ever play… He would say, Oscar Robertson.”

Before players like Magic Johnson, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook were racking up triple-doubles while playing the point, Oscar Roberson was the earliest to do it. ‘The Big O’ had such a well-rounded game and unique size for a point guard which allowed him to be an impactful player on every facet of basketball.

This is why Roberson is still the sheer leader for most triple-doubles in NBA history with 181, Westbrook is second with 146. He has a career-averages of 25.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists per game and won one league MVP and one championship in his 14-year career. 

Perhaps, Roberson does have a case as the best player to ever do it as the way Jordan sees it. However, it would be gut-wrenching for other players and the general public to hand the ‘GOAT’ to someone other than Jordan, who has the most outstanding resume and repertoire by far.