Who is better, Karl Malone or LeBron?
LeBron James leads with a GOAT score of 95.6 against 89.2 for Karl Malone — a gap of 6.4 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Karl Malone vs LeBron
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks LeBron James above Karl Malone: 95.6 vs 89.2. LeBron James leads on Dominance, Honours, Longevity.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
LeBronWinner
95.6LeBron wins: Dominance, Peak, Longevity, Honours, Statistics
Karl Malone
89.2Karl Malone wins: no category outright
Candidates
Locked to BasketballShareable URL · /compare/karl-malone-vs-lebron
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 LeBron James
95.6
LeBron leads in 5 of 5 weighted categories.
1. LeBron James
2. Karl Malone
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Through age 21 · Form index per season
1. 🇺🇸 LeBron James48 points per game
2 seasons by age 21 · 24 per season
Setting the pace at age 21
No verified birth date for Karl Malone — 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 | Karl MaloneRetired | LeBronActive · Philadelphia 76ers |
|---|---|---|
| MVP awards | 2 | — |
| All-Star selections | 14 | 21 |
| Career points | 36,928 | 41,000 |
| Olympic golds | 2 | — |
| Career rebounds | 14,968 | — |
| Finals appearances | 3 | — |
| NBA titles | — | 4 |
| Finals MVP | — | 4 |
| Regular season MVP | — | 4 |
| Points per game | — | 27.1 |
| Dominance w25% | 86 | 94 |
| Peak w20% | 90 | 95 |
| Longevity w20% | 94 | 100 |
| Honours w20% | 84 | 92 |
| Statistics w15% | 94 | 98 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
LeBron95.6
Karl Malone89.2
FAQ
Where does Karl Malone beat LeBron?
Karl Malone does not lead any of the five categories; LeBron is ahead or level on all of them.
How is the Karl Malone vs LeBron score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Karl Malone: 89.2, LeBron: 95.6.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Karl Malone vs LeBron. 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.