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’80-’86 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs ’17-’23 Lebron James

Posted: Tue May 30, 2023 9:29 pm
by Matt15
Who was the better player from age 32-38?

Re: ’80-’86 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs ’17-’23 Lebron James

Posted: Tue May 30, 2023 9:47 pm
by 70sFan
I think it's reasonably close:

1980 vs 2017 - basically a tie, I may prefer Kareem but LeBron didn't miss any game in the playoffs
1981 vs 2018 - LeBron due to postseason
1982 vs 2019 - Kareem due to James injury
1983 vs 2020 - probably James strongest argument in this discussion, his 2020 season is extremely strong
1984 vs 2021 - Kareem has a small advantage to me, though it's not a wide gap
1985 vs 2022 - James had arguably a better RS, but Kareem playoffs performance makes me confident
1986 vs 2023 - another very close one, but Kareem didn't miss as many games

It's basically how much you value availability (Kareem's edge) vs James having more MVP-level seasons (3 in 2017/2018/2020 vs only 2 in 1980/1981). At first thought I wanted to say James due to 2020, but I am not sure anymore.

Re: ’80-’86 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs ’17-’23 Lebron James

Posted: Tue May 30, 2023 10:47 pm
by rk2023
70sFan wrote:I think it's reasonably close:

1980 vs 2017 - basically a tie, I may prefer Kareem but LeBron didn't miss any game in the playoffs
1981 vs 2018 - LeBron due to postseason
1982 vs 2019 - Kareem due to James injury
1983 vs 2020 - probably James strongest argument in this discussion, his 2020 season is extremely strong
1984 vs 2021 - Kareem has a small advantage to me, though it's not a wide gap
1985 vs 2022 - James had arguably a better RS, but Kareem playoffs performance makes me confident
1986 vs 2023 - another very close one, but Kareem didn't miss as many games

It's basically how much you value availability (Kareem's edge) vs James having more MVP-level seasons (3 in 2017/2018/2020 vs only 2 in 1980/1981). At first thought I wanted to say James due to 2020, but I am not sure anymore.


Would you take 2020 James over 2017?

Re: ’80-’86 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs ’17-’23 Lebron James

Posted: Tue May 30, 2023 11:18 pm
by RCM88x
I feel like the higher peaks of Lebron (17, 18, 20) make up for the missed games for me. Though it is very close and I don't feel either way is a bad choice.

Re: ’80-’86 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar vs ’17-’23 Lebron James

Posted: Wed May 31, 2023 6:17 am
by 70sFan
rk2023 wrote:
70sFan wrote:I think it's reasonably close:

1980 vs 2017 - basically a tie, I may prefer Kareem but LeBron didn't miss any game in the playoffs
1981 vs 2018 - LeBron due to postseason
1982 vs 2019 - Kareem due to James injury
1983 vs 2020 - probably James strongest argument in this discussion, his 2020 season is extremely strong
1984 vs 2021 - Kareem has a small advantage to me, though it's not a wide gap
1985 vs 2022 - James had arguably a better RS, but Kareem playoffs performance makes me confident
1986 vs 2023 - another very close one, but Kareem didn't miss as many games

It's basically how much you value availability (Kareem's edge) vs James having more MVP-level seasons (3 in 2017/2018/2020 vs only 2 in 1980/1981). At first thought I wanted to say James due to 2020, but I am not sure anymore.


Would you take 2020 James over 2017?

No, I have 2017 (and 2018) James ahead of 2020.