Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James - Playoff & NBA Final Stats

LeBron James is an American professional basketball player who has been playing in the NBA for 21 years as of March 2025. His nickname is "King James". From being the cover athlete of Sports Illustrated while still in high school to becoming a four-time NBA Champion as of March 2025 and then going on to lead with his voice on topics of social justice. Amongst many achievements and accolades James has earned on the NBA court, his greatest moment came quite possibly in March 2024 when he became the one and only player to date to ever eclipse the 40,000 mark in career points as of March 2025.

Michael Jordan is a former American professional basketball player and a businessman. He was the pioneer who led the NBA to the global stage back in the 90s. He relentlessly pursued greatness and won six championships with the Chicago Bulls during his playing career. After retiring he went on to become a business tycoon amassing a huge amount of wealth. A few years later he bought the Charlotte Hornets and became the first-ever American athlete to do so.

LeBron James vs Michael Jordan Stats (Regular Season)

Michael Jordan was all about taking over the game and single-handedly outplaying his opponents with his dominant game. LeBron James is a more balanced player who scores when challenged to score but his game is more about getting his teammates involved, grabbing rebounds, and doing those little things that help a team get a victory.

Career (Averages) (via Sports Reference)	LeBron James	Michael Jordan
Points	27.0	30.1
Rebounds	7.5	6.2
Assists	7.4	5.3
Steals	1.5	2.3
Blocks	0.7	0.8
Turnovers	3.5	2.7
Minutes	37.9	38.3
Field goal %	.507	49.7
3-point %	.350	32.7
Free throw %	.737	83.5

Career (Totals)	LeBron James (As of March 21, 2025)	Michael Jordan
Games	1,550	1,072
Points	41,924	34,241
Rebounds	11,661	6,672
Assists	11,504	5,633
Steals	2,327	2,514
Blocks	1,146	893
Turnovers	5,437	2,924
Minutes	58,620	41,011

LeBron James vs Michael Jordan Regular-Season Advanced Stats

When one is comparing two different eras, it’s not ideal to just look at the major stats. Sometimes, advanced stats give us an insight into the playing style and a real nitty-gritty way of evaluating two different aspects of the same attribute.

Advanced Career Stats (via Sports Reference)	LeBron James (As of March 21, 2025)	Michael Jordan
Player Efficiency Rating (PER)	26.9	27.9
Value Over Replacement Player (VORP)	156.2	116.1
Box Plus/Minus (BPM)	8.6	9.2
Win Shares (WS)	270.3	214.0
True Shooting % (TS%)	.590	56.9%
Usage Rate (USG%)	31.5%	33.3%

LeBron James vs Michael Jordan Playoff Stats

NBA Playoffs are where LeBron James' talents are unleashed. Every year during the playoffs, he proves to everyone watching why he is one of the greatest to play the game. On the other hand, Jordan's six-in-six should speak for itself.

Playoff (Career Averages)	LeBron James (As of March 21, 2025)	Michael Jordan
Points	28.4	33.4
Rebounds	9.0	6.4
Assists	7.2	5.7
Steals	1.7	2.1
Blocks	1.0	0.9
Turnovers	3.6	3.1
Minutes	41.3	41.8
Field goal %	49.5%	48.7%
3-point %	33.1%	33.2%
Free throw %	74.1%	82.8%

Playoffs (Career Totals)	LeBron James	Michael Jordan
Games	287	179
Points	8,162	5,987
Rebounds	2,583	1,152
Assists	2,067	1,022
Steals	483	376
Blocks	275	158
Turnovers	1,015	546
Minutes	11,858	7,474

LeBron James vs Michael Jordan Playoff Advanced Stats

While the Michael Jordan vs LeBron James debate rages on, both have shone tremendously in the regular season for their respective teams, and the playoffs have brought about similarly strong performances from the pair repeatedly. Overall, both players rank high not only in the regular season but in the postseason as well, and once again deciding the better player between the two in the postseason is still as tough as ever. In the following table (via Sports Reference), we pit LeBron James with Michael Jordan and take a look at the advanced stats of the two in the playoffs.

Advanced Career Stats (Playoffs)	LeBron James	Michael Jordan
Player Efficiency Rating (PER)	27.90	28.60
Value Over Replacement Player (VORP)	36.05	24.73
Box Plus/Minus (BPM)	10.5	11.14
Win Shares (WS)	58.67	39.76
True Shooting % (TS%)	.5841	.5676

LeBron James vs Michael Jordan NBA Finals Stats

LeBron James has been to the finals 10 times, winning the championship on four occasions as of March 2025. Jordan went to the finals six times and astoundingly won all of them without ever needing to go to Game 7. The table below (via Sports Reference) illustrates LeBron James vs Michael Jordan's stats comparison in their respective NBA Finals appearances.

NBA Finals (Career Averages)	LeBron James (As of March 21, 2025)	Michael Jordan
Record	4–6	6–0
Points	28.4	33.6
Rebounds	10.2	6.0
Assists	7.8	6.0
Field Goal %	48.4%	48.1%
3-point %	35.2%	36.8%
Free Throw %	73.1%	80.6%
Steals	1.7	1.8
Blocks	0.8	0.7
Turnovers	3.9	2.8
Minutes	42.5	43.0

NBA Finals (Career Totals)	LeBron James (As of March 21, 2025)	Michael Jordan
Points	1,562	1,176
Rebounds	561	211
Assists	430	209
Steals	93	62
Blocks	46	23
Turnovers	217	99
Minutes	2,337	1,506

Michael Jordan vs LeBron James Awards and Accolades

Both Michael Jordan and LeBron James have given so much to the game of basketball that there is no doubt both players have earned a plethora of awards and accolades during their respective careers. While Jordan does lead in most of the important categories here, James is not too far behind and can still catch up before his career is over. Therefore deciding whether Michael Jordan or LeBron James is better falls short in this category as well.

Achievements	LeBron James (As of March 2025)	Michael Jordan
NBA Finals appearances	10	6
Championships	4	6
Regular season MVP	4	5
Defensive Player of the Year	0	1
Finals MVP	4	6
Rookie of the Year	1	1
Scoring titles	1	10
Assist leader	1	0
Steals leader	0	3
All-Star selections	20	14
All NBA selections	20	11
All-Defensive selections	6	9

Who is a better player between LeBron James and Michael Jordan?

Michael Jordan was always skilled at scoring near the basket as per Forbes. He was one of the most athletic players of his time and he could dunk on just above anyone. For him, it was not enough, so he took his game to the next level and pushed himself to be even better. Jordan has a large points-per-game lead over James as of March 2025 as per USA Today.

LeBron James shot his career-best 41.7 percent from three-point range as per Forbes. Jordan scored 32,292 points in 1072 games during his 15 years of career, whereas James scored 41,924 points in 1550 games during his 22 years of playing career as of March 21, 2025. Both players have their own weaknesses and strengths as per USA Today. Jordan never lost an NBA championship in which he has competed and James has won four as of March 2025.

Who has more rings LeBron James or Michael Jordan?

As of March 2025, LeBron James has four NBA rings. The 2012 NBA championship, where the Miami Heat was the champion and James was named the MVP of the finals. In 2013, the Heat won the title for the consecutive time, where again James was the MVP. In 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers were the champion and James played for them as well as he was named the MVP. In the 2020 NBA Championship, James played for the Los Angeles Lakers and they were the champion, naming James as the MVP of the finals.

As Michael Jordan retired in 2003, he won six NBA championships during his playing career. From 1991 to 1993 and from 1996 to 1998, Jordan was the NBA Champion and he won all of them with the Chicago Bulls.