No arguing with that, he is still one of the top players in the league at 40. And it is impressive he can do this, he is definitely an all-time GOAT NBA player, it's either him or Jordan. And it speaks to how awesome he is, that regardless of how fit he keeps himself, he can still manage to be such an impact player at that age. But it also speaks more to his career commitment than his pure basketball ability, unless Jordan also absolutely wanted to still be a badass at 40, but that's the best he could muster in spite of a supreme effort to maximize what ability he still had left. And thus, advantage Lebron-bron. I think Jordan averaged like, 20 ppg or something. It was more than ceremonial. Or if it was ceremonial, it was because he was part owner of the Bullets. And on a whim, or for marketing purposes or whatever he could just suit up and still be the best player on the team. I think you're weakening your argument the more you draw attention to the almost flippant or impulsive nature of Jordan's return from a 2nd retirement to still be an all-star caliber player at the same age.
Jordan also played professional baseball, and he did okay as a dilettante. That's how transcendent he was, that he could just take two years off, in his absolute prime, and pursue his 1st love, and come back and three peat without missing a beat. Where does that feat fit into the hierarchy of their respective achievements? Lebron should have tried to play in the NFL a couple of years as a TE. If he was serious about being the GOAT he would have done that.
