WHEN MICHAEL JORDAN’S AGENT IS PILING ON, JAMES SHOULD GIVE UP THE BATTLE
Of all people, David Falk emerged to suggest Jordan would have won 15 NBA titles if he “cherry-picked” franchises as James has — a crushing point that finally finishes a debate older than your barroom
Other than gooey popcorn and stoners at the dartboard, nothing dulls the bar scene more than another Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James argument. Except when Jordan’s agent, quiet for years, notices LeBron limping through his 18th postseason without a championship. Is David Falk rubbing in the stale truth?
Once again, Jordan won six NBA titles in 13 seasons in Chicago. James has had to hopscotch America, with four stops, to win only four titles in nine additional years. Do not mention the league’s all-time scoring record because Jordan saw no reason to play anywhere near 22 years. He has sold sneakers, bought a team, sued NASCAR and played a prank with NBC, where he might — or might not — tape coverage segments.
But there was Falk, who likes James but decided to issue harsh realism in a twisted 21st century. Enough with the blokes. Enough with media fanboys taking guesses. Let James play another season, though he really should not. There are facts to remember.
“I think that if Jordan had cherry-picked what teams he wanted to be on and had two other superstars, he would have won 15 championships,” Falk said.
The cherry-picking theme.
That’s all we need to know.
LeBron left his birthplace of northeast Ohio and romped to South Beach, where he won twice, and returned to Cleveland, where he won once. He ventured to Los Angeles, where he has won once in a pandemic and doesn’t belong on the same arena wall with Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Lakers who have won multiple banners. He made the moves, in part, to challenge Jordan’s six-pack.
The longer he plays? The debate only becomes uglier. What if Jordan had joined the Knicks, as he nearly did in 1996? Or the Orlando Magic with Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway? Or eventually the Lakers? What if he’d chosen to keep playing basketball and won two more championships instead of whiffing on minor-league baseball? Fifteen is an exaggeration, but Falk’s point is concrete. It also juiced James’ agent, Rich Paul, who realizes James has tried to win more with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami and Anthony Davis and Luka Doncic in southern California. He has won three times with those showmen. It isn’t enough.
Paul appeared on Rich Eisen’s show and describes the comments as “very unfair” and “a little beneath David Falk.” A little beneath Falk? How many times has James called himself the greatest player ever? Why? How many times has Jordan said even a word about it? Paul should have refrained from a fireback. He didn’t.
“Coming from someone who literally had John Thompson, Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski supporting his business, putting superstar athletes in his lap, I think he was part of the cherry clan,” he countered about cherry-picking. “It doesn’t get any bigger than Georgetown, North Carolina and Duke (when it comes to getting players). So he actually has a bag of cherries, you know.”
I’m not certain what Paul is talking about, because Scottie Pippen went to Central Arkansas, Horace Grant to Clemson and Dennis Rodman to Western Uranus. Jordan was from another era when stars didn’t change franchises as much as they have in LeBron’s era, when he took advantage of empowerment. But LeBron was able to choose. Jordan stayed in Chicago and dealt with extraordinary travails involving management, which ended the Bulls’ run in 1998, when he was 35. He sat for more than three years before returning to the Washington Wizards, a side deal with a team that had no title hopes.
“He took a dig at LeBron,” ESPN’s Jay Williams explained, “but I also think it’s a dig at Rich Paul. It’s like, ‘Hey, you (Paul] are the modern-day version of who I was supposedly, and LeBron James has way more ability to be flexible and what teams you go to, and I had to make things happen more so than just saying, ‘This is what I wanna do.’ ’’
Now that we’ve settled the same story in 2025, no one is sure how NBC will introduce Jordan next season. Will the network call him, “The Greatest Player of All Time”? Or will James and Paul boycott? Charles Barkley — who is moving on to ESPN unless he quits, as he claims — isn’t worried about Jordan dethroning him in commentary. When Jordan makes a real point, it’s resounding. Wouldn’t we love to see someone shut up Chuck? I doubt Mike will say much into his mike.
“I have no idea what Michael is going to do. I don’t think he’s going to do a lot. I know he’s not going to do a lot,” Barkley said of TV. “I was 100 percent shocked, but I don’t think he’s going to do a lot. Period.”
Does Jordan need a break from golfing? That might require a week. “He’s probably trying to fix The Grove,” said Barkley, referring to his private club in Florida. “He made The Grove where you have to be able to hit the ball left or right. He’s probably trying to fix the fairways so people who play a hook can play there.”
MJ gambles. So does Barkley. Does NBA commissioner Adam Silver care? “FanDuel only lets me bet so much,” said Chuck, “so I gotta have a bookie on the side.”
Unlike Barkley, Jordan has no need to prove something as a broadcaster. He is the greatest player ever. His agent, we might say, also might the best. Rich Paul, bye bye.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.