Ever since LeBron James started winning championships, people have tried to compare his career to that of Michael Jordan's. After all, Jordan was the most dominant player of his time, and LeBron was the same in his own generation. However, Jordan has six championships and LeBron only has three. Their NBA Finals records are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum and these days, it has become very hard for pundits to give LeBron the edge over MJ.

Today, LeBron's former teammate and NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins weighed in on the debate saying it is much closer than people think. As he pointed out in the infographic below, James had better stats during his last three finals losses than Jordan had in his last three finals wins.

At the trade deadline this season, the Golden State Warriors dealt D’Angelo Russell to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Andrew Wiggins. Wiggins had some frustrating years in Minnesota and it was clear that he needed a fresh start. The Canadian was coming to a team that needed some offense without Klay Thompson and Steph Curry in the lineup and that’s exactly what he was able to provide. Now, there is speculation as to what will happen to Wiggins next.

According to Anthony Slater of The Athletic, the Warriors are actually very impressed with Wiggins and want him to be a starter next season. Essentially, all signs point to Wiggins being the starting small forward on the Warriors next season.

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

“But, ask anyone in the organization — during their private or public moments — they got Wiggins with the expectation that he’ll be their starting small forward next season, not just a matching contract to flip (like they did with [D’Angelo] Russell),” Slater wrote. “They are aggressive but rational.”

Wiggins might not be the star he was projected to be but he can still add some offense to any lineup and moving forward, his output will be crucial to the success of his new team. Hopefully, for him, he is able to deliver.

[Via]

LaMelo Ball had a very interesting year in Australia and now that he owns the team he played for, he is ready to move on and get drafted into the NBA this year. Many believe he could be the first overall pick while others are more conservative in predicting that he will at least be in the top five. There is a whole slew of bottom-feeding teams that will be eligible for Ball and it will be interesting to see where he ends up landing. 

As you can imagine, LaMelo’s father LaVar has his own plans for the future superstar and is letting it be known that he wants Melo to go to the New York Knicks. The Knicks might be a terrible team but they get all of the attention and as we know, LaVar loves himself some attention.

Alius Koroliovas/Getty Images

LaVar had vouched for the Knicks a while back but he reiterated his position while on Complex’s “Load Management” podcast. The Knicks aren’t guaranteed to get a lottery pick but the odds of them getting one is still pretty high. If other teams see that LaMelo only has eyes for the Knicks, perhaps they will pass him up and New York can get lucky.

However, this all rides on whether or not the Knicks even want LaMelo and what comes with him. Needless to say, this situation is about to get interesting.

[Via]

For years, the NBA has been using Spalding basketballs, and players have grown to be quite comfortable with them. In fact, Spalding created the very first basketball back in the 1800s which just goes to show that their equipment is pretty legendary and has a ton of historical significance. Despite all of this, it appears as though the NBA will be moving on from Spalding and instead, will you Wilson balls moving forward. 

This was a huge shock to fans and, more importantly, the players in the NBA who actually have to deal with the new equipment. In fact, Kevin Durant had some commentary on the matter, saying "Oh hell nah" when presented with the new facts. Clearly, he and some of his peers throughout the league are a bit worried about how the Wilson balls will stack up.

Dwight Howard's first stint with the Los Angeles Lakers was certainly one to forget as his arrival to L.A. was tainted by chemistry issues and injuries to numerous notable players on the roster. Not to mention, Howard didn't have the best chemistry with Kobe Bryant, who later called Howard "soft" as a member of the Houston Rockets. Now, Howard is back on the Lakers and is having a career resurgence as he is used as a role player who can make big plays for you down the stretch.

Recently, Howard hopped on Instagram live with Lakers teammate Jared Dudley, where he spoke about his first sting with the Lakers and why it didn't work out. As reporter Melissa Rohlin transcribed, Howard said that egos and his desire to be "the man" got in the way.

If you’re a basketball fan, by now you’ve probably heard about Michael Jordan and his infamous “Flu Game” from Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals against the Utah Jazz. Despite looking as if he was going to faint, Jordan put up a whopping 38 points en-route to a 90-88 win that had the whole basketball world in shock. At the end of the game, Jordan had to be helped off the court by Scottie Pippen as the fans in Utah couldn’t believe what they had just witnessed.

During an appearance on “Pardon My Take,” Jordan’s trainer Tim Grover spoke about the “Flu Game” and explained that it wasn’t actually the flu. Instead, Jordan had eaten some bad pizza the night before and it was wreaking havoc on his stomach.

“Then, about 3 o’ clock in the morning, I get a call to my room that just says, ‘Hey, man, come to MJ’s room’ and he’s literally curled up in the fetal position,” Grover said. “I’ve not known any flu that can hit you that fast, but I know how quick food poisoning can hit you.”

Grover noted that he was apprehensive about MJ eating the pizza because five delivery men had come to the door. Clearly, Grover seems to think there may have been some sabotage at play and that MJ was falling into a really elaborate trap.

Either way, everything worked out for the Bulls legend.

[Via]

During the 1995-96 season, the Chicago Bulls went on an insane run in which they went 72-10 and won the NBA championship. It was a massive accomplishment as they picked up the best record in NBA history while also picking up a fourth title. Twenty years later, the Golden State Warriors broke the Bulls regular-season record by going 73-9. Things didn't work out so well for the Warriors in the end as they ended up losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.

The one parallel between both of those teams was Steve Kerr. Kerr was a point guard on the Bulls and was the coach of the Warriors. During the most recent episode of "The Last Dance," Kerr explained that the better of the two teams was, indeed, the 72-10 Bulls. 

Reggie Miller was always one of the more formidable foes in NBA history thanks to his brand of trash talk and three-point shooting. Unfortunately, he was never able to get over the hump and win an NBA championship, even though he made it to the Finals back in the year 2000. In 1998, Miller went up against Jordan in the Eastern Conference Finals, which as we all know by now, Jordan won en-route to his sixth championship.

In “The Last Dance,” Miller spoke about going up against MJ and what he was hoping to accomplish at the time. As he explains, Miller had the mentality that he was going to force Jordan into retirement.

Tommy Gilligan/Getty Images

“We all looked at the Bulls as the standard model of success,” Miller said,  Brad Botkin of CBS Sports. “They were considered the best at that time. But we felt, and I feel to this day, we were the better team. The whole thing is, there was whispers that this was going to be Mike’s last year. So I think a perfect storm was brewing. In my mind, I was thinking … ‘this is it. You’re going to retire Michael Jordan.’”

Jordan eventually did retire after that season although it had absolutely nothing to do with Miller and the Pacers. Jordan always seemed to have Miller’s number and that never changed up until the very end.

LeBron James always makes waves on social media whenever he speaks so it shouldn't be surprising that he had NBA fans in a tizzy last night while watching "The Last Dance." Throughout the episodes, Michael Jordan has spoken at length about Madison Square Garden and how it was his favorite arena to play in. Just like his idol, LeBron is a huge fan of MSG and always speaks highly of the arena whenever he gets to play there. In the past, his love of MSG has led to speculation that he might play for the New York Knicks one day.

Last night, LeBron added nothing but fuel to that fire as he complimented MSG saying there is nothing like it. Well, as you can imagine, Twitter did its thing and Knicks fans began to speculate about a potential LeBron signing in 2022. Of course, the vast majority of the reactions were people making fun of Knicks fans for being a bit too eager.

LeBron James was doing what most of us were doing last night: watching "The Last Dance." With no sports on TV, the only thing to watch these days is Netflix and the new docuseries about Michael Jordan and his incredible career with the Chicago Bulls. During Episode 7, the documentary focused heavily on MJ's first retirement from the NBA and how it came shortly after the death of his father. Jordan wanted to go play baseball and it was clear that his heart just wasn't in the game of basketball anymore.

When Jordan announced his retirement, millions of people across the country had tuned in to watch the announcement. It was a pretty devastating blow to the basketball world and a young LeBron James had to watch his idol give up the sport he had been so successful in. On Twitter, James harkened back to his childhood and reminisced about how he felt at the time.