yeah actually lebron gets less calls then the average player a study showed. and kobe didn't really get too many calls either. the nba really don't need to show favoritism because the level of skill and strength rose among all players due to evolution of the game. it wasn't like back then where it was just MJ on his own level. now its like steph, kd, russ, lebron, harden, etc all on pretty close levels..... and ur avg good player can light up any of them on a given night.
heck don mitchel could school all of them on a good night last year easily.... terry rozier, etc etc .... it's not like before where the stars just owned everyone....anyone can own anyone nowadays... the gap is so thin among players because of the availability of resources to get better.... back then they thought weight training made you slow, like you're going to turn into a body builder, lol.
one of the truly underrated player during MJ's reign was mamoud abdul raouf or chris jackson. this guy was actually ahead of his time imo, he had hops and insane accuracy. but the media isn't as big as today, so theres only so much to show.... and only the super stars got the attention....
now back to MJ.... i think if he was around in todays game, his ceiling is an explosive version of kwahi leonard kind of like 2009 dwade but even longer.... Cause if u take a look at him post 1993, he really didn't have much legs in him. he started getting top heavy because he lifted so much uppers but never trained legs, but he could still get by because of his sheer natural strength.... People say lebron is a physical specimen, but MJ was truly a physical specimen.... his natural explosiveness is probably the best in nba history imo. His brother larry was 5'8, didn't really play bball, and could do a double pump 2 handed dunk.... still, its just that MJ was in such a weak era imo and he was given the green light to do anything....