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The 2025-26 NBA season is in full swing, renewing the long-running debate over the league’s best player.
For the past two decades, much of the often lively discussion has centered on Michael Jordan and four-time league MVP LeBron James.
Decorated former U.S. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps suggested that six-time NBA champion Jordan was the clear leader in the league’s hierarchy.
“[No.] 23, the original, the original GOAT,” he replied when asked to choose between the Chicago Bulls legend and the Los Angeles Lakers superstar at the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year ceremony.
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LeBron James, left, and Michael Jordan attend the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Feb. 20, 2022, in Cleveland, Ohio. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
Phelps said he took inspiration from Jordan’s game and applied it to swimming.
“For me, Michael Jordan was always the one I looked up to and wanted to do what he did in basketball in swimming. Then Jordan.”
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Phelps also chose Jordan when asked to choose between Jordan and 15-time major golf champion Tiger Woods.
Serena Williams, who won the US Open singles title six times during her storied career, also couldn’t dislodge Jordan from Phelps’ list. “I’d say MJ for sweep.”
WNBA icon Diana Taurasi and seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady were also compared to Jordan, with both falling short – in Phelps’ opinion.
Phelps’ name was even mentioned, but he admitted that even he couldn’t measure up to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer.
Retired American swimmer Michael Phelps says six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan is the NBA’s GED. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
“To me, he was my childhood idol. Again, watching him on and off the court, what he did, how he handled himself,” Phelps said. “Whatever he went through when he was on the field, everything was left behind and he was able to be who he was trying to be… the best version of himself. There were no excuses and for me that’s how I modeled my career.”
Phelps won 28 Olympic medals – the most ever by a single athlete. He is widely regarded as the greatest Olympian in history.
In 1996, the NBA unveiled its 50 Greatest Players list, which recognized the top players in the league’s history up to that point.
The 2025-26 NBA season is in full swing, renewing the long-running debate about the league’s greatest player of all time. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The list became known as the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. A quarter-century later, the league debuted another anniversary roster, its 75th Anniversary Team, featuring legendary athletes from various eras.
The roster was not ranked in any particular order.
