Betting against LeBron James in NBA West finals is risky business

Basketball’s great debate will always be who was the better player — Michael Jordan or LeBron James — as long as those of us who were able to watch both play in person are still alive.

At this point, does it really matter who was better? Can greatness end in a dead heat just this one time?

Jordan has the six championship rings he earned over 13 seasons with the Chicago Bulls — a career interrupted in 1993-94 when he took a crack professional baseball with the minor league Birmingham Barons where, incidentally, Terry Francona was his manager.

Jordan retired after the 1997-98 season and then three years later unretired. He played two seasons with the Washington Wizards and then retired for good after the 2002-03 season when he was 40 years old. He played in all 82 games with 67 starts while averaging 20 points a game in his final season.

The Bulls’ championship reign ended with the 1997-98 season when Chicago eliminated the Utah Jazz in six games. Jordan was 35. He was vintage Jordan in Game 6 against the Jazz — 44 minutes, 45 points and four steals in a game the Bulls won, 87-86.

James turned 38 on Dec 30. On Feb. 7, he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and on May 16 he will lead the Lakers into the Western Conference finals against the Denver Nuggets.

Among all of James’ accomplishments throughout his long career with the Cavaliers, Heat, Cavaliers again and now the Lakers for the last five years, this season might tell the story of how he can put a team on his back and carry it best of all.

The Lakers missed the playoffs last season when they finished 11th in the West at 33-49. They started this season with a 2-10 record. They didn’t climb over .500 until their 77th when they beat the Timberwolves to improve to 39-38.

The Lakers finished the regular season seventh in the West at 43-39 and then beat the Timberwolves, 108-102, in a play-in game.

To be sure, James is not a one-man team. Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka pulled off some deft trades that turned his team from a discombobulated mess to one good enough to wipe out the immature Memphis Grizzlies and knock out  the Warriors in the conference semifinals. The Grizzlies (second) and Warriors (sixth) were both higher seeds.

Pelinka’s biggest trade was the one that sent guard Russell Westbrook to the Jazz as part of a three-team deal with the Timberwolves. The Lakers acquired guard D’Angelo Russell from Minnesota plus  Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt from Utah in the deal. The Lakers sent Westbrook, Juan Toscano-Anderson, Damian Jones and their first-round pick in 2027 to the Jazz.

The Lakers were 13th in the West at 25-30 when they made the Westbrook trade. The players Los Angeles acquired didn’t create the sensation of the Nets trading Kevin Durant to the Suns or the Nets trading Kyrie Irving to the Mavericks, but the Mavericks didn’t even make the playoffs and the Suns are done.

James scored 30 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out nine assists when the Lakers snuffed out the Warriors, 122-101, in Game 6 of the semifinal series.

The Nuggets finished first in the West and 53-29 — a full 10 games better than the Lakers. Betonline.ag gives Denver a 59.2 percent chance to win the seven-game series.

LeBron James has played in 278 playoff games. He has a playoff record of 182-96, 135 double-doubles, 28 triple-doubles and four championship rings. Bettor beware.