The Greatest NBA Player of All-Time: Michael Jordan or Wilt Chamberlain?

It remains one of the most commonly asked questions among all sports fans. It is also one of the most widely debated and difficult questions to answer... Who is the greatest basketball player who ever lived: Michael Jordan or Wilt Chamberlain?

A general consensus among former players, coaches, experts, and even casual fans has established that these are the two greatest basketball players who ever lived.

Now, some do disagree. Revered sports statistician Elliott Kalb considers current Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O'Neal to be the game's greatest player. Other experts insist that legendary guard Oscar Robertson was the game's top all-around player.

Some consider Boston Celtic center Bill Russell to be the greatest basketball player, based on his professional sports record of eleven championships. Still others will make the claim that center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, forward Larry Bird, or guard Magic Johnson is the game's greatest player. However, the majority of lists published have accepted the fact that Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain are the top two players in NBA history.

Interestingly enough, the general consensus has also fully accepted Michael Jordan as the better basketball player than Wilt Chamberlain.

An ESPN survey of journalists, athletes, and other sports figures ranked Jordan as the greatest North American athlete of the twentieth century, ahead of such icons as Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali. In the Associated Press's list of the top twentieth century athletes, Michael placed second to Babe Ruth. The list ranked Jordan as first among all basketball players. In 2000, Jordan received an ESPY as the greatest athlete of the century.

Sport Magazine, commemorating its fiftieth anniversary in 1996, selected Jordan as the greatest athlete of the last fifty years—then watched as Jordan earned five more Most Valuable Player awards (two in the regular season and three in the NBA Finals). NBA.com describes Michael Jordan with the following bold statement: “By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time.”

However, a slight bias may favor Jordan over Chamberlain—or not so slight. While Wilt Chamberlain was disliked by many, Michael Jordan is undeniably the single most popular athlete to ever walk the planet.

Unlike Wilt, whose career occurred before the frequent use of athletes in commercials, Jordan ranks with Tiger Woods as one of the most marketed sports figures in history. He introduced us to the athlete-as-megabucks generator off the court. He set records for marketability, revenue, and recognizability, as a spokesman for products such as Gatorade and McDonald's.

Jordan's popular style of game is said to have influenced a generation of young players. MJ was the first in the NBA's high flying circus era. Many current NBA All-Stars have stated that they considered Jordan their role model while growing up, including LeBron James and Dwayne Wade. Commentators have even taken to dubbing the latest young superstar the “next Michael Jordan”, a list that has included Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter, LeBron, and Wade.

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