Many legends of the game have offered their take on who they believe is the greatest basketball player of all-time. While there’s a small portion that have varying answers, which are all reasonable, the huge majority are pretty much sold on Michael Jordan.

Among the ones who are reluctant to give the crown to Jordan is Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas. The Hall-of-Famer had previously presented a good case for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to be the GOAT, citing the big man’s continuous winning and domination at literally every level. Combining that with his recent statements, though, Thomas seemed to also be implying that Jordan is not the second-best.

Here’s what he told Brad Botkin of CBS Sports:

“I think this generation [of players] is not getting enough credit for what they’re doing … Because the athletes that are in this generation are so far superior than what was in my generation. [When we were playing], Jordan was the best athlete that we had ever seen, [but] from an athletic standpoint, there are like 10 or 11 guys in the NBA right now with Jordan’s athleticism. We didn’t have that back then. With what [Kevin Durant] and LeBron [James] are doing, if you put them back in the era of the ’80s, with their talent, their athleticism and their skill, who’s the GOAT?”

Of course, it should be noted that Thomas and Jordan have had a certain dislike for one another since the 1980s. The former is a proud Chicagoan that allegedly grew jealous of an outsider country boy immediately generating such a buzz in his home city. That led to Thomas allegedly concocting a ‘freeze-out’ on Jordan in the 1985 All-Star Game – it was never proven and Jordan said he didn’t notice any shady thing going on.

Following all of that, however, is a string of intense playoff battles between the two. Thomas and his Bad Boy Pistons eliminated Jordan and the Bulls three straight times, and they infamously walked off the floor in 1991 when Chicago finally got revenge. Then, if all that wasn’t enough, the heated rivalry is believed to be the reason why Thomas was left out of the 1992 Olympic Dream Team – allegedly by Jordan.

Now while the decades-long silent war appears to be the sole reason for Thomas’s comments, he also brought some solid points, which is valid regardless of whom and where it came from.

Back in the 1980s (and arguably the 1990s), no one was as deadly as Jordan offensively, be it in the elbow, post, paint, etc. Every other player had one or two elite offensive skills, MJ had all of it. Complementing all of that is the now-defunct illegal defense rule, which didn’t allow the opposition to double team off-the-ball and create complex schemes. Jordan was able to take full advantage of that for the entirety of his Bulls career as the rule was in play until the 2000-01 season.

Thomas is also right about LeBron James and Kevin Durant not getting enough credit. Supporters of old school ball are always aggressively arguing that the current stars are too “soft” for the physicality in previous eras, and it’s just the wrong way of looking it.

Being able to put your arm in the opposition’s back or having leeway to commit a hard foul does not automatically equate to good defense. Also, a talented physical specimen like James is always going to be a talented physical specimen. Same with Durant. He’s always going to be an elite weapon. He’s a 6’10 natural small forward that shoots the ball high with great efficiency. If we teleported those two in the ‘80s or ’90s right now, defenses will be in awe, similar to how they reacted to Jordan. They might start hitting people until everyone fouls out.

But, having said all of that, Jordan fans should now that His Airness is pretty secured in his place. He has the throne and his accomplishments can trump any argument. Winning is everything in sports and His Airness is stacked in that department.