without both Pippen and Phil Jackson. Chicago won 52 games and had three all-stars during his first retirement, so it’s not like he was dragging a bunch of bums around. Still, he changed the game and nobody topped him in his prime.

LeBron has more longevity both in terms of stats and playoff success and he has two less retirements. His former teams struggle more without him, but he also flops and joins superteams. He gets much fewer free throws throws than most current scoring leaders FWIW.

Unless you find an unbiased way to compare overall career success to peak dominance there's no way to settle the argument. I'd take peak Jordan if I were building a team.