At least not yet.
"I don't know if (James) has the ability to surpass (Jordan) or not," Wade told ESPN Chicago. "That's yet to be seen. My version as LeBron being on par with Michael is this: They're both on the golf course. Michael's on the 18th hole. LeBron is somewhere on like the fourth hole. He's got a long way to go, but he's on par to get to the 18th hole.
"I think everyone knows that (James) is a phenomenal, phenomenal player. He's one that we haven't seen, with the makeup of a 6-8 guy who runs as fast as any point guard, jumps as high as any center, and has the ability that he has to do so many things. But Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time, that's who everyone shoots for. So it's going to be hard to surpass that."
James, 27, is showing he can catch Jordan, already completing one of the greatest seasons any NBA player could have, winning a regular-season MVP, a Finals MVP, a championship and an Olympic gold medal, joining Jordan as one of the only players to do so.
"I'm not (surprised)," Wade said. "Because there's a certain period in your life and a time (in) an age group where you're going to continue to get better. You see players like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, they're good now but they're going to be better. And it's not saying how many more points you can score, it's just being better as an overall player. And LeBron is at that point; he's 27 years old.
"He's now playing with that confidence, that swagger that you need, and he's right in the smack of his prime. We've all seen it from all the best players in this game, all the future Hall of Famers, that age -- 27, 28, 29 -- that's like the best years, and then after that if you stay healthy, then you have even more great years like a Michael Jordan, like a Kobe (Bryant) has had, when they reach their 30s."
The Jordan-LeBron comparison seems like it will be the next debate for the next decade or so now. Both have won their first championship at age 27 and now James controls his own destiny. The likely way James can truly be right next to Jordan and make a legit comparison is by the six Finals wins. If he can catch that, it would seem like the right time to compare.
"If you're a team that's lucky enough not to have major injuries along your run, then it can possibly be," Wade said. "But you never know that until it's over. As a Chicago Bulls fan, when they won their first championship, I didn't say, 'We're going to win five more.' You just hope that your team continues to compete and they get in that situation that they're good enough to pull it out and are able to win.
"So right now, we won one and that's a lot more than a lot of teams have done in the past, but it's a lot less than (other teams) as well. We just want to continue to get better and hopefully we're there again in the Finals to try and win another one."
What do you think? Do you think James can get Jordan?
Photo Credits: Reuters, Getty Images
Josh Dhani is the founder of FootBasket. You can read more about him at his website. Follow him on Twitter @joshdhani.
