Forget LeBron…Could Michael Jordan Even Beat Kevin Durant?

Competitive Nature/Psychology

If they haven’t already, here’s where things get really dicey. Measuring intangibles like “clutch” and “fearless” are more narrative-driven than anything that’s actually measurable. And while you can account for a player’s production in the last few minutes of a game (a category in which Durant measures very highly) this doesn’t take into consideration if a player is even in the game during these waning moments.

All-in-all, Durant and Jordan have both come through for their respective teams, have both won big games and failed to convert last-second shots.

But if there’s an edge to be had, perhaps it belongs to Jordan who was an absolutely ruthless competitor. His obsession with winning everything he did is well-known – be it at cards, table tennis or golf – and could be diagnosed, as it was by Jordan himself to ESPN reporter Wright Thompson, as an addiction:

"There’s no way to measure these things, but there’s a strong case to be made that Jordan is the most intense competitor on the planet. He’s in the conversation, at the very least, and now he has been reduced to grasping for outlets for this competitive rage. He’s in the middle of an epic game of Bejeweled on his iPad, and he’s moved past level 100, where he won the title Bejeweled Demigod. He mastered sudoku and won $500 beating (Jodan’s manager, Estee) Portnoy at it. In the Bahamas, he sent someone down to the Atlantis hotel’s gift shop to buy a book of word-search puzzles. In the hotel room, he raced Portnoy and (Curtis)Polk, his lawyer, beating them both. He can see all the words at once, as he used to see a basketball court. “I can’t help myself,” he says. “It’s an addiction. You ask for this special power to achieve these heights, and now you got it and you want to give it back, but you can’t. If I could, then I could breathe.”"

That is, despite Jordan’s great success, not a healthy attitude. Perhaps it’s what was necessary for him to reach the levels he did. It drove him and it’s what pushed – and pushed away – his teammates.

In this context, you find yourself hard-pressed to think anyone could match Jordan’s level of competitiveness. Despite this, you still have to consider that Durant could beat Jordan at first, although, eventually, MJ would find a way to win even if it killed him.

KD – 2, MJ – 1

Next: The Final Word