Expected top-three pick Brandon Miller talked with reporters on Wednesday, one day ahead of the 2023 NBA Draft.
Miller was asked about recently meeting Michael Jordan and immediately provided a wild take with his pick for the NBA's GOAT . The former University of Alabama star didn't pick "MJ" or LeBron James, but Paul George.
Michael Jordan’s meeting with Brandon Miller was “exciting” says Miller to @BallySports.
— Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson (@ScoopB) June 21, 2023
“It was exciting to meet him.”
Miller also weighed in on the Michael Jordan-LeBron James GOAT debate which he doesn’t feel is an old debate.
Miller says: “I actually don’t think LeBron… pic.twitter.com/3CbX7tbHBN
Utterly ridiculous https://t.co/PyXTxZilLh pic.twitter.com/O7PgTOTZBR
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) June 21, 2023
Jordan, of course, won six NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls and a league-record six NBA Finals MVP awards and 10 scoring titles, while adding five regular season MVP honors and countless other accolades. Before James joined the NBA out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in 2003 and soon lived up to (and exceeded) the otherworldly hype surrounding him, the GOAT conversation started and ended with Jordan.
Occasionally, names like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and (for fans of rings), Bill Russell, would find their way into the debate, but for years now, it's been between Jordan and James. "LBJ's" resumé includes four NBA titles, four regular season MVP awards and four NBA Finals MVPs. He also became the league's all-time leading scorer during the 2022-23 campaign.
Wednesday may have been the first time that anybody ever threw George's name into the GOAT chatter, and it was certainly a bold take from Miller, to say the least. Though "PG-13" has put together a stellar 13-year career and could someday join Jordan (and eventually James) in the Basketball Hall of Fame, he's lacking serious credentials for a spot in the all-time great conversation.
George has made eight All-Star teams (James has 19 and Jordan made 14) and has six All-NBA and four All-Defensive honors, while James has 19 and six respectively and Jordan finished with 11 and nine. George has just four career triple-doubles against James' 107 and Jordan's 28.
Perhaps Miller meant to say that the Los Angeles Clippers star was his favorite player of all-time, but either way, social media had an enormous response to his words.
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