As LeBron James celebrated his 29th birthday Monday, a case was being made for the Miami Heat superstar to ascend to the title of greatest basketball player ever.
USA TODAY Sports' For the Win stacked up statistics for James, Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as each celebrated his 29th birthday.
James has better numbers in all eight statistical categories included by For the Win - games, points, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, most valuable player awards and NBA titles.
James is in his 11th year in the league, having joined the NBA out of high school. Bryant also entered the NBA out of high school, so he was in his 11th season at age 29.
In only 10 more games than Kobe, King James has 2,523 more points, 1,681 more rebounds, 1,930 more assists, 193 more steals, 191 more blocks, four more MVPs and just one fewer titles.
Jordan did not enter the NBA until after his junior season and was only in the league eight years on his 29th birthday. Jordan had only 559 games under his belt, 235 fewer than James. Jordan's scoring average was higher (32.3 to James' 27.5) as were his steals per game (2.7 to 1.7) and blocks per game (1.1 to 0.8).
Jordan, however, had just two MVP awards and one NBA championship at age 29. James will have some work to do to match Jordan's championships after age 29 - Jordan won five.
But at this stage of his career, James is on pace to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time points mark of 38,387 when James turns 38 or 39.
The biggest criticism of James will be that he had to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers to start winning championships, and if he leaves Miami next summer via free agency, his star could be sullied further.
Jordan won all six of his championships with the Chicago Bulls, and Bryant won all five of his trophies with the Lakers. Kobe's liability is the presence of Shaquille O'Neal for the first three of those titles, but Bryant will get credit for persevering and getting two titles with him as the star player on the team.
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