Hall of Fame wide receiver Irving: GOAT on the field is Jordan, GOAT off the field is James

September 10th, Hall of Fame wide receiver and three-time Super Bowl champion Michael Irving participated in the podcast "All the Smoke" by Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, and talked about his views on Michael Jordan and LeBron James.

Irving said: "I think Jordan is a very, very phenomenal player. Of course, everything he gets is what he deserves. But when you see LeBron and everything he does, even Kobe - Kobe is a great, phenomenal player. But when you see LeBron and everything he does, you find that LeBron has changed a lot of things to a large extent."

"Michael Jordan has achieved so much, done so many things, but he can't even let his boss renew him for a year in advance. Man, please, what are you doing? What's that? LeBron has gone another way and done something different. And now, LeBron has some control.

"It's not just about playing." You have to admire his business acumen. I remember people were arguing at the time that he was on the same game with Kobe in the All-Star Game, and Kobe wanted to fight him one-on-one. We want to see that 'Alpha man[1]' stand up and take over the competition. ‘Alpha man, prove that you are that Alpha man. ’

[1]Alpha men are often considered confident, competitive, charismatic and leading.

"But that's not his game plan. What he thought was, I don't need to stand up and take over the game. What I really wanted to do was to take over the big picture. So, instead of beating the top players like an "alpha man", he thought about it, instead, 'No, I'm going to work with these guys so that we can do something bigger and better, and we can have more control'.

"LeBron's control over the whole situation is far more than any time Michael Jordan has ever had. So when we talk about ‘the best of history’, man, I mean, on the court, you can say Michael Jordan is the best of history. Off the court, you have to say that LeBron James is the best in history. On the field, it was Michael. Off the field, it was LeBron. ”

Irving played for the NFL Dallas Cowboys for 12 years and is considered one of the greatest wide receivers in history and was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 2007.