Who is better, Kareem or Phelps?
Michael Phelps leads with a cross-sport score of 95.2 against 93.3 for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — a gap of 1.9 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Kareem vs Phelps
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Michael Phelps above Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 95.2 vs 93.3. Michael Phelps leads on Peak, Honours, Dominance. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leads on Longevity.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →Cross-sport verdictgoatrank.world
PhelpsWinner
95.2Phelps wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours, Statistics
Kareem
93.3Kareem wins: Longevity
Candidates
Locked to BasketballShareable URL · /compare/kareem-vs-phelps
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Cross-sport GOAT score
🇺🇸 Michael Phelps
95.2
98.1 in-sport × 0.97 Global participation & competition depth
Phelps leads in 4 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Michael Phelpsdepth ×0.97
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbardepth ×0.98
Category breakdown
Season form · season output
Career timeline · season output
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Through age 21 · season output
1. 🇺🇸 Michael Phelps548 output
7 seasons by age 21 · 78.3 per season
Setting the pace at age 21
No verified birth date for Kareem — shown in the pro-debut view instead.
Every career is cut at the season the athlete turned 21, so a rookie today is measured against exactly what a legend had banked by the same birthday.
| Metric | KareemRetired | PhelpsRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Dominance w25% | 95 | 99 |
| Peak w20% | 94 | 100 |
| Longevity w20% | 96 | 93 |
| Honours w20% | 95 | 100 |
| Statistics w15% | 96 | 98 |
| NBA titles | 6 | — |
| MVP awards | 6 | — |
| All-Star selections | 19 | — |
| Career points | 38,387 | — |
| Finals MVP | 2 | — |
| Career rebounds | 17,440 | — |
| Olympic golds | — | 23 |
| Olympic medals | — | 28 |
| World titles (LC) | — | 26 |
| World records set | — | 39 |
| Olympic Games | — | 5 |
| Golds in one Games | — | 8 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Phelps95.2
Kareem93.3
FAQ
Where does Kareem beat Phelps?
Kareem scores higher on longevity. Phelps leads on peak, dominance, honours, statistics.
How can athletes from different sports be compared?
Each in-sport GOAT score is multiplied by Competition Depth: Kareem 0.98 (basketball) and Phelps 0.97 (swimming). Deeper, more global sports keep more of their score.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Kareem vs Phelps. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.