Who is better, Michael Jordan or LeBron James? It seems that this has been an ongoing, and a never-ending debate pretty much for the last 10 years in the NBA. Ever since LeBron James entered the league in 2003, as a teenager, he was held to the highest standards possible. And so far, he has not disappointed anybody. His career has had ups and downs, but what LeBron James has been able to do and accomplish so far in his career is remarkable. There are many of those who have a lot to say about LeBron's game and his NBA Finals record (3-5), but nobody can deny his work ethic and his overall greatness.

He is one of the few players that could be, and rightfully so, compared to the great Michael Jordan. Jordan is widely recognized as the greatest of all time (GOAT), but there are those that put LeBron James ahead of Jordan. The latest person to comment about the comparison between Jordan and James was Scottie Pippen.

Pippen with the hot take on 'First Take'

Pippen and Jordan were teammates for 10 years during their playing days with the Chicago Bulls, and they managed to win six NBA titles together. The two of them were considered as one of the best, if not the best one-two combination in NBA history, considering the success they had playing together. On Thursday (Dec. 14), Scottie Pippen appeared as a guest on ESPN's sports show "First Take," and he was also asked about the comparison between Michael Jordan and LeBron James.

One would think that, without a doubt, Pippen would choose and put Jordan ahead of LeBron, but that was not the case on Thursday.

Pippen was asked, "How close is LeBron to catching Jordan?" His response might've caused some drama around the NBA, this is what he said: "The numbers don’t lie. He’s right there,” Pippen said. “He probably will never catch him in terms of MVP, but in terms of statistics, LeBron is right there.

And when you look across the board, not just scoring, check his assists, check his rebounds, he’s probably ahead of Jordan!”

LeBron or Michael, will we ever get the answer?

If we take a look and analyze what Pippen said, he really has a point. Jordan's biggest advantage over LeBron James is in terms of scoring and number of championships won.

Other than that, James is either tied or better than Michael at this point in his career. In his 15th season in the league, James is averaging 28.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 9.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 58 percent from the field. It is astonishing that, even at the age of 33, James is showing no signs of slowing down and there's a realistic chance that he will break every Jordan record.

In terms of total points scored, Michael Jordan scored 32,292 points while LeBron James is currently at the 29,601 mark with plenty of games left to play in his career. James obviously has the advantage when it comes to rebounds and assists, but the one thing many holds against him is his NBA Finals record.

Jordan, as we all well know, is 6-0 in the Finals with six Finals MVPs. LeBron, on the other hand, has lost five times in the NBA Finals so far in his career. He has three championship rings with three Finals MVP awards. If he's able to win at least two more NBA titles and two more Finals MVPs, it's safe to say that we will have our answer in terms of the greatest NBA player of all time.
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