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MJ regular season stats: 22.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 2.9 apg, 2.1 spg, 1.2 bpg, 45.7 FG%, 16.7 3PT%, 84.0 FT%
LeBron regular season stats: 27.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg, 6.0 apg, 1.6 spg, 0.7 bpg, 47.6 FG%, 31.9 3PT%, 69.8 FT%
MJ playoff stats: 43.7 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 5.7 apg, 2.3 spg, 1.3 bpg, 50.5 FG%, 100.0 3PT%, 87.2 FT%
LeBron playoff stats: 25.1 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 8.0 apg, 1.7 spg, 0.5 bpg, 41.6 FG%, 28.0 FT%, 75.5 FT%
MJ accolades: All-Star
LeBron accolades: 2nd Team All-NBA, All-Star, 5th in MVP voting, FIBA Americas gold medal
This is one of the easier decisions on this list, as Jordan broke his foot early in the season, just two-plus games in, to be exact, while James, on the other hand, made a Finals run.
By his illustrious standards, James had one of his least efficient years ever as a 22-year-old, putting up the second-worst true shooting percentage (factors in field goal, free throw and three-point percentage) of his career at 55.2 percent. Regardless, James was just so athletically dominant that it didn’t matter, as he led Cleveland on a surprising run to the Finals, one that did end with a sweep at the hands of the dynasty San Antonio Spurs at the peak of their powers.
Impossible to blame James for that, however, considering the second- and third-leading scorers on that Cavs team were Larry Hughes (14.9 points per game on 40.0 percent shooting) and Drew Gooden (11.1 points per game).
That year saw the first iconic playoff performance of James’ career when he scored 48 points, including the last 25 points of regulation and the two overtime periods for Cleveland in what was a 109-107 Game 5 win over the very talented and tough Pistons.
The Cavs would end up winning that series in six games to reach the Finals.
Jordan, on the other hand, was swept in the playoffs, but it’s equally as hard to blame him for that considering his averages of 43.7 points on pristine shooting splits in the postseason that year. Oh, and he did that against the classic Boston Celtics dynasty team, still standing strong in 1985-86. Boston wound up winning the championship that year.
His age-22 season was also when we first saw the first glimpse of an iconic Jordan playoff performance when he scored 63 points on 53.7 percent shooting – on the road – in a Game 2 double-overtime loss for the Bulls against Boston. 63 points stands as the record to this day for a playoff single-game scoring total, by the way.
NBA Hall-of-Famer Larry Bird described that Jordan performance as ‘God disguised as Michael Jordan.’
Nevertheless, Jordan played in just 18 regular-season games in his age-22 campaign while James was a 2nd Team All-NBAer and took his team to the Finals, so once again…
Final verdict: LeBron James
