LeBron James

LeBron James sets the record straight on why he's chasing Michael Jordan's records

Published May. 25, 2017 2:06 p.m. ET

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Andre Vergara

LeBron James is once again drawing comparisons to Michael Jordan during a dominant postseason run, but while the Cleveland Cavaliers star acknowledges chasing Jordan's records, he says it's not to become the greatest player in NBA history.

"It's just a personal goal of mine," James told reporters Thursday morning. "It has nothing to do with passing the rings, passing the points, passing MVPs. It's just my personal goal to keep me motivated — that's all."

With 28 points Thursday night in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, James would pass Jordan (5,987 points) as the playoffs' all-time leading scorer. With a win, he'd reach his seventh consecutive NBA Finals; Jordan played in a total of six, though he won them all.

James already matched Jordan with eight straight playoff games of 30 points or more. But he says the debate about who's the greatest of all time "doesn't matter to me."

"You guys are going to have the conversations about who is greatest of all time and things of that nature," James told reporters. "It doesn't matter to me. At the end of the day, it's so funny that the conversation is always talked about in the NBA about who is the greatest but it's never talked about in the NFL about who is the greatest quarterback. It's just like: [Dan] Marino, [John] Elway, [Peyton] Manning and [Tom] Brady. All great quarterbacks, you know — and it should be the same for us.

"We go out and just try to be as great as we can be every night. The comparison of always trying to compare people either living or still playing or not playing, I think it's great for barbershops, but for me I'm just trying to put my mark on the game and leave a legacy behind so I can inspire the next group of kids that want to play the game the right way."

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LeBron James

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