DeFluri 1

Brandon DeFluri
Ms. Taylor
ENGL 1106
20 February 2020
Research Question: Who Is the best Basketball Player Lebron James or Michael Jordan
Annotated Bibliography

Olivieri, Anthony. “GOATs on GOATs: LeBron and MJ in Their Own Words through the
Years.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 14 Feb. 2019,
www.espn.com/nba/story/_/page/allstarweekend25788027/the-comparison-lebron-james-
michael-jordan-their-own-words.

In this source, the author takes more of a back seat on the topic between Lebron and
Jordan and allows their word to speak for themselves. He brings up many quotes from both
players about their comparison. This article begins talking about LeBron’s hype coming out of
high school and entering the league as the first-round pick. Michael Jordan, who had just retired,
seems to have faith in the young Lebron, but is definitely hesitant to say he will be the greatest
since he is so young. Then throughout the years of LeBron’s career, both Lebron and Jordan
recognize that Lebron is something special and could be a top 5 player of all time. Then after
winning the champion ship for the Cavaliers in 2016 against arguably the most dominant team of
all time the Golden State warriors, Lebron decided that he was, like his nickname, the King of
basketball and acknowledged himself as being the greatest. This article gave insight of the
players ideas about each other and what their opinions on the almost 2 decade long question of
who is the greatest.

Key Words:
• LeBron James
• Michael Jordan
• Basketball
• The King
• G.O.A.T
• Cavaliers
• Bulls
• NBA Championship

Citations:

McMenamin, Dave. “LeBron: Passing MJ Ranks up There with Title Wins.” ESPN, ESPN
Internet Ventures, 7 Mar. 2019, www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26156982/lebron-passes-
mj-4th-all-scoring-list.
 DeFluri 2

“WatchESPN: Live Sports, Game Replays, Video Highlights.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures,
www.espn.com/watch/series/1ebd2aa0-2ea4-4089-93f6-cc534b472757/more-than-an-
athlete.

Windhorst, Brian. “No Time to Celebrate as LeBron Passes Michael Again.” ESPN, ESPN
Internet Ventures, 7 Mar. 2019, www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26105395/no-celebrate-
lebron-passes-michael-again.

Quotations:

“’it was Godly. I’ve said that over and over before, but it was like meeting God for the
first time. That’s what I felt like as a 16-year-old kid when I met MJ.’”
(under section 2001: the first meeting)

“Though James downplayed the Jordan comparison, he was forced to face it again in
2004, when he made his Team USA debut -- wearing the same No. 9 that Jordan had worn with
the Dream Team.”
(under section 2004-2006: James on the rise)

Questions:

1. In what aspects do people like to compare the game of Michael Jordan with the game of
Lebron since this article only talked about how they view each other?
2. Does Jordan believe that Lebron has surpassed him and if so when does he think it
happened?