Michael Jordan‘s 1988 DPOY continues to get questioned by fans of the modern NBA era, who have found a way to bring LeBron James’s 2013 snub into the conversation. The MJ vs LBJ rivalry is quite common on social media, with fans going extreme to defend their idols. However, the validity of the 1988 DPOY is being questioned seriously after accusations started to pile up one after the other. Days have passed by and now the internet is suspecting that this sudden anti-MJ stance could be a planned one. Planned by who? None other than LeBron James and his agent Rich Paul who are facing the heat on various platforms now.

Jordan’s former teammate from the Chicago Bulls, Scottie Pippen, exposed an eye-opening incident, which questioned the 1988 DPOY further. In his book Unguarded, Pippen wrote, “Say I deflected the ball and tapped it over to [MJ]. I should get the credit with the steal, right? Nope…More often than not, the steal went into his column in the stat sheet and I could do nothing about it.”

This made the job easier for the fans of LeBron James on the internet, who are aggressively calling out the Chicago Bulls for what they believe is a disparity. Jordan is one of the three players in the league, who has won both the MVP and DPOY in the same season. In 1988, he averaged a mind-blowing 3.2 steals and 1.6 blocks, to receive 37 first-place votes in the DPOY voting.

After the sudden accusations, now the internet is guessing that LeBron James and Klutch Sports CEO, Rich Paul, could be behind this. Again, fans are only suspecting, and there is no solid proof for the above line. Moreover, this also has opened a door for the possibility that these accusations started to even the record between LeBron James and Michael Jordan, as the former has not won a DPOY in his career.

Social media believes LeBron James’s 2013 snub is the possible reason behind the anti-MJ stance

“Lebron’s career is coming to an end so now his fans are trying to discredit a 36-year-old award Michael Jordan received because Lebron didn’t receive the same award 12 years ago.” Commented a fan on Twitter. James came the closest to winning a DPOY in 2013 during his time with the Miami Heat. However, Grizzlies star Marc Gasol, who averaged 1.7 blocks and 1.0 steals per game, won the honors.

James averaged 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks, but it wasn’t worthy enough to get a DPOY. So now James’ fans are questioning the validity of Jordan’s 1988 DPOY. However, this didn’t sit right with fans who love Jordan. A fan wrote, ” [LeBron fans] have NO IDEA how to watch game film and have NO IDEA how basketball is played.”

The internet is not just accusing James, but also his agent Rich Paul from Klutch Sports. From the comments of a YouTube video that called out the agency, a user said, “Klutch Sports has no shame. It’s clear what the agenda is, and they’re no longer even keeping it a secret.’

To eliminate the statistical approach that the fans are using to discredit Jordan’s DPOY, another user wrote, “It’s not about stats. Yes MJ has all-time stats but so does Lebron. It’s about winning, dominance, and excellence. That’s the criteria.” 

The internet is suspecting James, his fans, and Rich Paul because the narratives against MJ keep coming one after the other. Another fan pointed it out, “It’s getting pathetic. First, they tried the ‘MJ didn’t have a left’ narrative now they saying ‘he faked stats’. I even started seeing some ppl say ‘If u didn’t see MJ play live in the 90s, he can’t be your goat’.” Looks like the internet has turned against James now. Let’s wait and see what’s about to happen next.