Man arrested in debate over greatness of Michael Jordan vs. LeBron James

There are plenty of basketball topics worth debating, but few if any worth actually coming to blows over, unless of course you’re legendary Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach and St. Louis Hawks owner Ben Kerner questions your integrity, in which case you knock him out at midcourt in front of a sold-out crowd.

One of the widely accepted truths about basketball, however, is that Micheal Jordan is the greatest player to ever wear an NBA uniform. Bill Russell might have the most championship rings, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar might have the most points and LeBron James might still be penning his chapter in the sport’s record books, but in terms of pure basketball brilliance — it’s Michael Jordan, and then everybody else.

That didn’t stop a Pennsylvania man from allegedly assaulting his roommate over a debate about whether LeBron is already better than Jordan, according to reports from The Daily Collegian and Centre Daily Times.

It was reportedly unclear if the man in question, 22-year-old Daniel Mondelice, was arguing for MJ or LeBron, but since he was arrested again later the same night for alleged trespassing and harassment, we’ll go ahead and assume he was pulling for James, since nobody in their right mind would do such a thing.

Then again, he will face charges of aggravated assault, terroristic threats and simple assault for the initial altercation, and while we in no way endorse assault and terroristic threats, a roommate so vehemently arguing LeBron’s case over Jordan might be enough to drive any man over the edge. I’m no lawyer, but an insanity plea in this case seems like the best-case scenario regardless of which way he was arguing.

For the record, the last time this debate came up with LeBron and Jordan themselves, the former told ESPN.com in 2013, “I want to be the greatest of all time. It’s that simple, I’m far away from it, but I see the light.” And the latter wouldn’t even pick James over Kobe Bryant based on the Lakers superstar’s five rings.

Jordan, of course, has won six titles, capturing Finals MVP honors each time to go along with his five regular-season NBA MVP awards, 10 First Team All-NBA selections and nine First Team All-Defensive bids. According to Basketball Reference, his career scoring average (30.1 points per game), MVP award shares (8.138), player efficiency rating (27.9), usage rate (33.3), win shares per 48 minutes (.250) and value over replacement player (104.4) are all No. 1 in NBA history. Not a bad case for the Bulls legend.

Meanwhile, LeBron — a two-time champion, two-time Finals MVP, four-time NBA MVP, eight-time First Team All-NBA and five time First Team all-Defensive honoree — may surpass Jordan in any and perhaps all such categories, but for the time being it’s still not a debate. Now, let the verbal assault commence on Twitter.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach