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The 2025-26 NBA season is in full swing, renewing the long-running debate over the league’s best player.
Over the past two decades, much of the often lively discussion has focused on Michael Jordan and four-time league MVP LeBron James.
Former US Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps suggested that six-time NBA champion Jordan was the clear leader in the league’s pecking order.
“[No.] 23, the original, the original GOAT,” he responded when asked at Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year ceremony to choose between the Chicago Bulls legend and the Los Angeles Lakers superstar.
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LeBron James, left, and Michael Jordan attend the 2022 NBA All-Star Game at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on February 20, 2022, in Cleveland, Ohio. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
Phelps said he was inspired by 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 the sport of swimming. So, Jordan.”
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Phelps also chose Jordan when asked to decide 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 failed to dethrone Jordan from Phelps’ list. “I’m going to say MJ for the sweep.”
WNBA icon Diana Taurasi and seven-time Super Bowl winner Tom Brady were also compared to Jordan, and both fell 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 GOAT of the NBA. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
“For me, he was my childhood idol. Again, I watched him on and off the court, what he did, how he handled himself,” Phelps said. “No matter what happened, when he was on the court, everything was behind him and he could be who he was trying to be… the best version of himself. There were no excuses and, for me, that’s how I shaped my career.”
Phelps won 28 Olympic medals, the most of all time for a single athlete. He is widely considered the greatest Olympic athlete in history.
In 1996, the NBA released its list of the 50 Greatest Players, recognizing the greatest players in league history up to that point.
The 2025-26 NBA season is in full swing, renewing the long-running debate over the league’s greatest player of all time. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The list became known as the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. A quarter century later, the league debuted another anniversary roster, its 75th Anniversary Team, featuring legendary athletes from different eras.
Notably, the list of names was not ranked in any specific order.
