For decades, people have debated whether Michael Jordan is the greatest player in NBA history, with older fans bringing Wilt Chamberlain's name into the conversation, and younger people leaning towards Kobe Bryant or LeBron James.
But one name that's often left out when discussing the GOAT is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Kareem holds unmatched accolades and is the all-time leading scorer, yet people don't talk about him enough nowadays.
That's why, as great as impactful as Jordan was, Miami Heat legend Dwyane Wade still believes that his name will be forgotten with time, just like it happened with Abdul-Jabbar and those who came before him.
NBA News: Dwyane Wade Says People Will Forget About Michael Jordan Like They Forgot About Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
“Yes, it does. I mean like, of course," Wade said. "These GOATs, these names that we throw out, it’s not gonna just be a lot of those players. But the game continues to keep moving forward. And so we are gonna continue to see things that we have never seen before. And the eyes are gonna get younger and younger.”
“We are not going to have a conversation about the GOATs. Now it’s going to be the younger, younger, younger generation. And they’re gonna forget about Jordan like we forget about Kareem," he added.
Wade Thinks Jordan Is The GOAT
Despite his friendship with LeBron, Wade can't help to admit that he's always felt like Jordan is the greatest to ever lace them up. Even so, he knows that's not a final conversation and that some will always think James is the best among the best:
“I come from the Jordan era, so I’m biased," Wade admitted. "Michael Jordan will always be my GOAT… I played basketball because of Michael Jordan… All of us have our own individual opinions… LeBron is going to be the GOAT for a lot of generations… [Jordan] will be my GOAT… I made it out of the hood because I’ve seen a dude, number 23 play the game of basketball at a level where I was like I want to do some of that."
At the end of the day, there's no objective criteria to unanimously determine who the GOAT is. Bill Russell won the most rings, Michael Jordan was the most dominant, LeBron James is the most complete, and so it goes.
